Storming The Castle
by XandriaZuzanna
Summary: The girls win a lucky ticket that grants them a luxurious prize vacation to an old Victorian castle. All seems to be fun and games until they arrive to find that not everything goes to plan... What real secrets lie behind this mysterious palace? - May contain popular ships, violent descriptions and bread.
1. Prologue

From the very beginning, it was a fact that everyone had always known.

She was the princess, and her kingdom was that of her family's, their history, and her own home. The one who'd been given everything at the means of her own disposal. Rich, beautiful, intelligent, and always the center of attention – even if she wasn't really a princess, it had always seemed she'd make a great one.

Looking back to a diary entry she'd written months back discussing the topic, it brought a new question to mind: Did she alone consider herself that way, or was it only because everyone had told her it was so? Trying to think about that brought up new questions on its own, and the amount of possible answers doubled, then tripled, then quadrupled. There was just no end.

However, there was one question she _could_ answer when she asked it to herself. Who do you love?

Never would she have even dared to tell anyone out loud, much less the very person herself. She always subconsciously hoped – wished – that she'd realize it on her own, but to this day she's still unsure whether she is truly loved by that person or if it was all just a game.

Everything about her annoyed the princess, from every word she's ever said, every move she's ever made, and every time she embarrassed her in front of everyone. Even still, whenever she looked into her eyes she felt enamored, captured inside the bright red flames that they spoke of. She longed to hold her small body inside of her arms forever, lulled by her sweet charms, her quirks, all the things she _thought_ she'd find annoying but truly admired in the end.

The princess's name was none other than Nishikino Maki, and her sweet but secret interest was the one and only Yazawa Nico.

It made Maki wonder if she'd ever make a move herself. Although she seemed cold to every action made towards her, learning to be smart and cool and never let people's words sway her… With that one person – with _Yazawa Nico_ – it was different.

Was she a hypocrite? For falling in love with someone she, if not for μ's, almost thought she would have hated?

It was strange of her to try to think about it, but in the end she supposed that she was indeed.

Maki looked out the window of her metaphorical palace, wondering what her next move on the chess board was to be. The warm sun shone a bright orange glow, telling the world that it was morning, and all of

At this time of the year, school had been out for months. More importantly, μ's had officially ended since then, and Nico had graduated along with the rest of the third years. At this rate, trying to think about it made Maki feel like she was trying too hard – too desperately. So she tried her best to stop. Maybe she could play the piano or study a bit of math.

Even though she wasn't in school for the summer, those two were good options for any time. When Maki felt like she could really concentrate, it took her mind off all the other events in her life. Studying helped her concentrate when she felt too guilty from relaxing, and piano helped her feel calm whenever studying had her stressed out. They balanced each other out well, didn't they?

Reaching for the advanced physics book, Maki suddenly heard her phone go off. Her eyes snapped to it immediately, and watched it carefully as it buzzed across the table with the caller ID's name on the display.

Kousaka Honoka. How could she have guessed?

Maki picked up the phone and slowly swiped to accept the call, raising the phone up to her ear.

"Moshimoshi! Maki-chan, are you there? Hello?" Honoka's voice rang.

"Jeez- obviously yes, I'm here."

"Great! Soooo… uh… What'cha doing?"

"N-nothing! Just… Studying, you know."

"Maki-chan, it's nearly the end of summer vacation. Why would you study when you could be out in the sunshine? Or even better, sleeping in~!" Honoka's voice let a happy sigh at the thought of it: being able to sleep in all the time was great – for her.

Then a third voice burst in, although more quietly, obviously in the background. "Honoka! Summer might be over soon, but that doesn't mean you should waste it away by _sleeping!_ If anything, you should spend the rest of your time preparing for the upcoming school year!" The tone was all too familiar. It was Honoka's childhood friend, Sonoda Umi. Of course she'd be at Honoka's house, since she and Kotori tended to hang out there often. Maki chuckled at the thought of Umi going to wake her up every day only for Honoka to continue sleeping in for another two hours – and she could have easily guessed that habit had been going all summer. The two of them had gotten so predictable by now, anyway.

"It's a waste to not, though! This is my last chance to do it! Anyways, Maki-chan, you can't really be studying at this time of the year, can you? What are you really doing?"

"Why does it interest you what I'm doing? Maybe I want to study!"

"Fufu, you never change. Hey, aren't you wondering why I'm calling?"

"No, not at all," Maki mumbled, her words laced with sarcasm. "You call me all the time, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you know how there's that new place with the really good steamed buns at the other side of town? Hanayo told me they have a _secret_ ingredient in them that tastes really good! Let's just hope it's not red bean paste, yeughh…"

"Tell her the point already, Honoka!"

"Aww, Umi-chan… let me finish!"

Maki giggled inside of her head. She didn't mind Honoka's ramblings so much sometimes, and she knew that Umi never minded them either- however, in her opinion, Umi was right this time. If Honoka had a point to get to, then she shouldn't have to make small talk.

"So, as I was saying, there were these really good steamed buns, right? Hanayo-chan and Rin-chan went up to see if the rumors were true."

"And were they?"

"Of course! What's even better, they won the secret grand prize! The trip for 9 to a secret trip to a real castle up in the mountains! It's a big, grand, beautiful palace, with gardens, high-end bedrooms, a rich history and a pool! It sounds just perfect for a vacation! Especially since it's been so long since we've all been able to get together!"

 _And what a coincidence that there's 9 of us,_ Maki thought, _but shouldn't there be some kind of catch here?_

"Isn't that such a coincidence?" Honoka asked. "And you're coming, right, Maki-chan? I've already called everyone else, and they're all going too, so- please, won't you?"

"You don't even have to ask. O-of course I'm coming!" Maki responded hesitantly. Having to hear Honoka plead as if she was going to say no reminded her of how people had always told her she was stubborn. However, there was no way she'd miss a chance to hang out with her friends like this again! _Especially Nico-chan!_

"Great! Hey, Umi-chan, you hear that? Now everyone's coming!"

"Oh, nice!" Umi said. "Honoka, give me the phone-"

After a few seconds of static noise, Maki coughed. "You do realize you're on speaker, right?"

"…" No sound from the other end of the phone. "…Right." Umi awkwardly bit her lip, her voice much louder than it was before as she'd now assumedly taken hold of Honoka's phone.

Although Umi and Honoka couldn't see it, Maki gave a smile. "…So we're going on this trip for sure, hm?"

"Seems so. I'm honestly a fan of old castles, the architecture is just beautiful. Especially in a serene place like the mountains."

"That's true, but… Now that I'm thinking about it, the whole thing sounds a bit suspicious."

"At first I thought Honoka was joking when she told me we were going, but Rin showed me the tickets, we looked on the websites, and there's plenty of pictures in the reviews, so – I'm still a bit skeptical, of course."

"Well, you have reason. How many places just give out tickets to free trips, much less a _castle_? From a restaurant? Sounds like a scam to me, but… it doesn't hurt, I guess. Where are we meeting?"

"The train station, 12:00. See you there!"

"See you, Maki!" Honoka added.

"See you both too." Maki responded.

With that, the phone hung up, and Maki tossed it back onto the desk. Noon, today? That didn't give her a lot of time to pack. Come to think of it, she hadn't even asked her parents if she could go – but they'd be gone for a couple of weeks for business anyways, and probably wouldn't care so much. They didn't usually, so why would they now? Still, she decided to write up a note for them in case they came back early. She ripped a piece of paper from her notebook, then neatly scribbled:

 _Went on a trip with the girls to the mountains. I'll be back soon~!  
Sincerely, Maki~_

After staring at her note for a moment, she went to the kitchen and tacked the note to the fridge with a magnet. That should do it, right?

…Now all she needed to do was pack.

* * *

The clock was ticking. Seven girls gathered at the given place as described, sitting down at some benches at the station. Even though it was a quarter after noon, not everyone had arrived yet, and so the topic arose of why that reason might be.

"Maybe they just got stuck in traffic!" Honoka optimistically suggested.

"Honoka, there's no such thing as traffic when you only need to walk a short distance," Umi sighed.

Kotori piped up with another plausible suggestion. "What if they couldn't find something, or forgot something at home?"

"That's a possibility, but–"

Hanayo cut her off. "I-it could've been a family emergency!"

"And they wouldn't think to notify us? I–"

"Or they could have just decided not to come," Nozomi hummed.

"But everyone–"

"That wouldn't make sense," Eli added, shaking her head.

"It–"

"Oh! Maybe their favorite TV programs came on at the last minute?"

"F–"

"Or they saw a really cute animal and wanted to pet it, nya!"

"Th–"

"Or maybe they just finished boiling a pot of rice?"

Umi stood up, clenching her fists in a boil of rage. "For goodness' sake, stop interrupting me!" The blue-haired girl yelled, causing everyone to fall silent for a few seconds.

"Woah, Umi-chan, I…" Honoka began, somewhat surprised by this sudden outburst. She stood up as well and put a hand on Umi's shoulder, giving her a calm smile. "I'm sure they'll come in no time! It's only been fifteen minutes after all, right? No matter the reason, they're definitely coming! We just have to sit still and wait!"

As much as she felt like protesting once again, Umi knew it was only her nerves getting to her. She glanced toward the ground, then back up at Honoka and nodded. "You're right. They'll be here any minute now. I shouldn't let this trip drive me crazy. It hasn't even begun and I – I'm already nervous," she told her, "but with you and the others, I'm sure it'll be amazing."

Umi and Honoka sat down again, and the girls continued to wait in silence. Each of the girls had a clearly different mood from one another: Honoka's cheerful, Kotori's patient, Rin's anticipating, Nozomi's comfortable, Eli's calm, Umi's worried, Hanayo's just hungry. They all could hardly wait – it had been a while since everyone had gotten to go someplace new together, and since it wasn't all just for training anymore but pure fun many of them looked forward to it.

After a few more seconds, Rin glanced over to Hanayo with a playful expression, the sides of her lips curled up and eyes gleaming. "Psst, Kayo-chin! Did you bring the buns?"

The latter nodded. "Mm… um, yep! They're all here!" She enthusiastically picked up a box and opened up the top to reveal 9 flawless buns – with a perfect golden color, alluring aroma, and to top it all off they were still all warm and steaming. The other girls leaned over to the two holding the box of buns, captivated by the delicious smell.

"Ooooh…" Everyone gasped, and even Umi, the greatest stickler for refraining to eat large amounts of carbohydrates could hardly keep herself from drooling over the buns. They just looked _that_ tasty.

"So these are the legendary buns we've been hearing about, hm?" Nozomi licked her lips and reached towards the box, only for her hand to be smacked away by Hanayo's.

"No! You mustn't eat them!" She whisper-shouted, now intensely staring at the box in case someone else tried to reach for it again. "You have to wait for everyone to come, or- or when we share them together, it won't be the same!"

"Ah~ Of course, I wasn't thinking," the purple-haired graduate responded, "it's so tempting when you wave it in front of us, though…"

Hanayo bit her lip, quick to close the box again. "S-sorry."

Thankfully it wasn't much later when the waiting girls saw a figure running in the near distance, coming towards them. The atmosphere filled with a little bit more cheerfulness, a little more excitement. The figure could have been anyone. It could have gotten their hopes up for nothing, just some random person running to that spot. However, even from that distance, everyone could tell who it was.

Red hair, violet eyes – it had to be Maki, of course. Right they were.

Stopping a little bit before the others, Maki slowed down and took a minute to regain her breath. To be honest, for a moment… She wasn't sure if she was ready. Her gut feelings had almost always told her to be cautious and this was no exception. However, she knew that if she tried – she'd have a good time. In fact, upon thinking on it a moment longer, why should she have to try at all? Whenever Maki was with her friends, she never had to try to be happy. This time shouldn't be any different. Instead of running the rest of the way the girl decided to walk, playing it cool.

Little did Maki know that she would be ambushed by a surprise hug.

"Maki-chaaan!" Rin squealed, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around Maki, causing her to let out a startled and embarrassed 'eep!'

She quickly tore from Rin's grasp and turned around so she wouldn't see her reddening face. "H-hey, don't startle me like that!" She scolded, and Rin pouted.

"Aw, Rin was just excited, nya-! We've been waiting for such a long time!"

"It's only been twenty minutes!"

Nozomi waved to Maki, standing up and walking over to her with a friendly grin. "Good to see you, Maki. Hm, what caused you to be so late, anyways?"

"Nothing!" Maki insisted, "I simply lost track of time, is all. Why do you need to know?"

A giggle escaped Nozomi's lips, and her smile turned to a more mischievous one. She tapped her chin as she stared at Maki thoughtfully. "I don't, I was just curious."

Now eight out of nine girls were present, the only missing one being…

"Hey, where's Nico-chan?" Maki inquired, noticing that she wasn't the only one missing. The other seven looked amongst themselves, only returning her question with shrugs and inaudible noises.

"We don't know," Kotori carefully answered, scratching the side of her head. She didn't think of Nico to be late – then again, she didn't think Maki would be late either, and that proved to be a fact that didn't always apply given this time.

"We thought she'd be with you," Eli added, "after all, you two tend to be together."

That particular comment made Maki blush once again. Was it really that obvious? Did she and Nico spend that much time together? No way, they couldn't have noticed _that_. "That's not really true." She coldly mumbled, somewhat hoping that they wouldn't catch on to her true feelings.

Before things got too silent again, Honoka decided to wrap things up. "Well, either way it doesn't matter if Nico-chan's late or not, does it? I mean, in the end, we'll still all be together, won't we? A few minutes doesn't change anything!" She proclaimed, and the others agreed.

"You're one to talk!" Rin teased, seeing as Honoka was usually the late one here.

Maki smiled at Honoka's optimism, and sat down with the others to wait. How does she do it? Always looking at the good side of things. Being brave and being able to move people with her words – that was Honoka. She could hardly believe that determination and dedication came from the same person whom constantly would be scolded by Umi whenever she ate too much food or slept for too long, but for what she lacked in organization she made up for in charisma and willpower.

Isn't that what drove μ's together in the first place?

That wasn't the point, though – no matter what Honoka said, everyone still had to wait. To feel the anticipation of waiting, it was almost as if it was never going to end.

Fifteen minutes passed.

Then thirty.

Forty-five.

An hour.

An hour had passed, and still no Nico.

"…Do you think she got the time wrong…?" Hanayo whispered.

"No, no way! Umi-chan was _very_ clear when she told us when to meet up!" Rin whispered back.

"She did say she was going…" Umi frowned, whispering as well.

"Then why hasn't she shown up yet?" Eli wondered, "Fifteen minutes I get, but an hour?"

"Uwaaahhh! I'm tired of waiting!" Honoka complained quietly, "Wait, why are we all whispering?"

"Maybe we should, um, try calling her?" Hanayo then suggested, talking in a voice that wasn't really a whisper anymore, but still pretty quiet.

Upon that, everyone immediately turned their heads to Maki.

"Why are you all looking at me?" She raised an eyebrow, feeling their suspicions grow. No way was _she_ going to be the one to call Nico!

Yet before she knew it, the violet-eyed, violet-hearted princess had her phone pressed to her ear, Nico's number being dialed. Everyone around her leaned in patiently, to see if they could somehow hear in.

 _Ring… ring… ring… beep!_

" _Nico Nico Nii!~ Sorry, looks like Nico can't answer your call right now, Nico-nii! But don't worry, Nico will be back soon to hear all your love and admiration! So don't forget to leave a message, okay~?"_

Straight to voicemail. It was no use.

The girls looked amongst each other feeling a little uneasy. They all had questions, but they all knew they wouldn't be able to answer them.

"What are we going to do, nya?" Rin's expression turned to a more worried one, and she spoke for all eight of them.

"We can't just wait here all day," Maki told her, biting her lip, "you know her. If she changed her plans without telling us, there's no use in waiting." Sadly, she did wish she could have asked to wait longer – but it was Nico's fault for being irresponsible with the time, not hers. She could feel her heart sinking a little yet tried her best to ignore it. It wasn't like she needed to be distracted by thinking about her all the time anyways… right?

They weren't technically classmates anymore. They hadn't called or hung out since the very beginning of the summer. Maybe Nico had moved on or put everyone behind her, she could never be sure. That may have been a pessimistic was to think about it, but it made Maki feel a little less infuriated on the inside.

Yet still, Maki didn't want to forget about her – and she wasn't so much sad or angry that Nico hadn't shown as she was simply disappointed.

Taciturnity came upon the eight again as the excitement they held earlier had a huge piece chipped off of it. Umi sighed, a bit hesitant to be the first one to break the silence, however she decided it was the right idea. There weren't any other obstacles in their way now; it was simply a matter of getting past the gate and proceeding.

"We better get going. The next train's coming soon, and I don't really want to miss it." While Umi's tone of voice held a certain bluntness to it, Maki could see how desperately she was trying to hide her own disappointment. She could see it in her eyes just how much of a downer it was to her, too. Who knew that one person's presence could make such a difference?

The train station wasn't far away, and the ride up wasn't too tedious. Maki wondered why there was a stop for the train all the way up in the mountains, but then again – how else were you supposed to get there? The only girls out of them who were old enough to drive were Nozomi and Nico, and as poor as they were Maki doubted they'd have a car of their own that was big enough to tote their entire group. Not that there was anything wrong with taking the train, it was just… a little odd that it would go all the way up there. Despite that, the next train came just in time, and there was no hesitation on boarding it.

Since the girls had missed the train they were originally going to take, they arrived to their destination much later than planned. The sun had almost set, basking in the sky with a warm orange glow. Before the horizon stood a tall and sprawling Victorian castle, lavishly illuminated by the remaining sunlight as it basked in its own glorious beauty. A long path drove through the lawn reaching towards the castle, but first there was an obstacle. A black gate.

Honoka was the first to curiously approach the gate, tapping it lightly to see if it would open. Lightly. It didn't open.

Instead however a dark figure appeared just behind the gate, causing Honoka to jump back with a rather unattractive scream.

"Where – did – they – come from?!" She gasped, clinging to the back of Nozomi (who just happened to be closest to her) while staring at the figure like they were some kind of ghost. The figure was nothing of the such, but rather a person with fair skin, dressed in black, Victorian-style clothing.

"Relax, Honoka-chan, it looks like it's just someone who works here," Nozomi reassured her, giggling.

The person behind the gate nodded once, searching around in their pockets for some kind of key. "Yes. Welcome to our castle, once home to a lovely couple, royalty of… some country…" They droned on monotonously, before finally finding the right key and unlocking the gate. "Please enjoy your stay." The person took a few steps back as the gates slowly opened, and gave a bow as the eight of the girls confusedly walked through.

"Oh! Um, before we go inside, um," it seemed Hanayo had remembered, "do you think it's time to – to eat the buns?" Her eyes wandered around the others hopefully, holding up the box so they all could see it.

Clapping her hands in excitement, Rin clearly agreed. "Yes, yes! Let's all enjoy them together, nya!"

With no hesitation the rice-loving soon-to-be-second-year held out the box with the lid wide open and everybody was quick to take one.

Everybody except one.

"Huehh? Don't you want one, Maki-chan?" Rin worriedly asked, poking the redhead's cheeks.

"No thanks. I'm good."

As much as the buns _did_ look appetizing, there was something about them that simply put her off. For one, nobody knew what the secret ingredient was, although that wasn't a great claim to start with.

Honoka took a great big bite of hers and licked her lips, savoring every moment of it. "Are you sure? They're as good as the rumors say!"

"They really are!" Kotori agreed.

"I-I'm sure!" Maki frowned, now appearing quite annoyed with the others. "I'm just not… all that hungry right now, alright? Sheesh."

"Aw, come on. They're pretty good. Nicocchi'd comment right now about how much of a tsundere you're being~" Nozomi teased, coming in from the other side of her. Maki went from pale to red in three seconds flat, and took a step back from her.

"Ngh… S-so what? She didn't come anyways. Let's just hurry up and go inside already."

Without bickering any further, Maki went on ahead through the path towards the castle's door.

"Well, we might as well follow her," Eli shrugged, taking another bite of her own bun. The others nodded and did so.

The castle seemed even taller and grander up close as it did from afar. The decorative designs and patterns that lined the walls in stone went up long turrets which tapered off in the pointiest violet-colored roofs, the glass of the windows seemed to be ancient enough that you couldn't quite see through them yet light still managed to get through, and even the door of the place was designed in a manner that made it unlike anything you'd see nowadays.

Umi's eyes glistened at the sight of it, and the others couldn't help but stare at it as well. It truly was a beauty to bestow – even though it was only a building.

"So," Maki began, walking up to the door and turning on her heels to face the others. "Anything you guys want to say before we enter?"

Eli was quick to respond. "Actually, yes," she carefully plucked a pink rose from a nearby bush, its' petals in full bloom, and immediately gave it to Nozomi. "For you, Nozomi. Just a way to say that I'm grateful to have met you."

Nozomi accepted the rose, her face at first with slight shock that melted into a smile. "-I –Thank you, Elicchi," She said, feeling as if a certain breathlessness were to take her over with that gesture alone. "I'd love to take the credit, but you should be more thankful towards the rest of our friends. If it weren't for all of you, I wouldn't be who I am now."

Eli smiled back. Though it was sappy, she had to admit that Nozomi's words held a truth for her as well.

The group's aura seemed to be lifted a little bit, and even Maki was smiling.

"You know… I do wish that Nico-chan had come – e-ehm, maybe just a little bit. Anyways, her not showing up, well – it couldn't have been entirely purposeful of her, right…?"

"Do you, um, want to try calling again?" Hanayo tilted her head to the side.

"No use! There's no cell service, nya!" Rin held up her phone, which was apparently already on. Zero bars.

"It's too late for that now, isn't it?" Umi shook her head. "We took the last train of the day, and… If there's no cell connection, we can't really call. Let's go inside, shall we?"

A unanimous nod finished the action, and Maki pushed the door open with great might. It was a bit heavier than it looked.

The second they all got inside, the door shut tight behind them.

 _Click._

Maki swiftly turned around to face the door again. "Hey, what was that…?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Alright! Phew! Chapter 1: Prologue. Yes, that was a prologue… A rather long one I might add. Sorry.**

 **I am a little nervous to be posting this online, after some of the words of** _ **discouragement**_ **that I received the last time I posted a fic – but anyways! That's over with. I'm going to be honest with you all here, I'm actually more used to roleplaying (ehem, LITERATE roleplaying,, fyi,,,) than I am writing stories, and in the past one of my biggest struggles in writing fanfiction was having a sufficient amount of dialogue… That being said, I haven't written fanfiction in over a year, so I hope this suffices.**

 **Right now, things seem pretty normal, but I have this entire story planned out, unlike previous times. So I won't let you down~!**

 **For the moment being, I'm an American exchange student in Germany. However, I still get enough free time to be able to write in the evenings, so updates shouldn't be** _ **too**_ **considerably slow. If they are, please understand, I might just be having fun actually doing what I came here to do.**

 **Please, if you have anything to say about this chapter, the story so far, suggestions for improvement or ideas about what you think might happen next, give a review! Leave some feedback! I'd love to hear it!**

 **Until next time, Zuzanna.**


	2. Locked In

Nobody knew what that sound could have been. There was no need to be so suspicious about a simple clicking noise. After all, it could have come from just about anything. They wouldn't have known if it wasn't from one little thing: the grand door behind them was the last thing that had moved.

Maki eyed the door for a good few seconds before looking back to the girls. They were all just as confused as she was, or so it appeared, scratching their heads or tensing their eyebrows while trying to figure out if what they thought had happened _really_ just happened.

"Did the door somehow get locked on us?" Eli wondered. Well, there was only one way to find out.

The door handle.

Maki reached out to turn it again, her hand unintentionally shaking. She twisted it to the side and pulled, and nothing. Tried pushing, too, and that didn't work either. "It won't budge." She informed them, crossing her arms.

Was that noise the door locking as it had closed? That was likely, in any case, but there was no explanation or good reason as to how or why it had locked, if there was some sort of key the girls were missing, or anything.

"You're sure it won't open?" Honoka inquired, "It might just have something jammed into it, or…"

"No, that noise was very... distinct. It'd have to be locked to be stuck that firmly, too." Eli tilted her head down at the floor with her hand posed on her chin as if she were trying to figure out something, but there weren't any questions that she could ask she knew could be answered.

"But that can't be possible!" Rin pouted. "The reviews – nobody else's had this problem, right Umi?"

"Yes, I checked the reviews…"

Maki sighed, shaking her head. "I knew this was a bad idea… but I didn't think it was going to be this bad. And we can't even call anyone, either."

"So then what are we going to do, nya?"

"We'll just stay here until someone comes or we find a way out. Let's just at least hope that whoever's been taking care of this place is at least somewhat hospitable, and we'll make do until then. Plus, we have each other, don't we? There's no use of being pessimistic here. It won't change anything, you know."

"So we'll just stay here and act like it's nothing?" Nozomi asked. "I see where you're coming from, but…"

Umi knew exactly what Nozomi had in mind, and raised a finger pretentiously. "…But we can't just stay here and not do something about it!"

"Yes, that, and we don't exactly know this place well enough to begin with. Now that we're in here, something just doesn't seem right."

"Um, what if we don't ever get out…?" Hanayo worriedly added.

Maki took a glance at everyone and sighed breathily. There was no way she could just extinguish all of their worries, but they had to keep sated for now. "We'll just ignore the consequences, then. As long as we're here together, I don't see what the problem is. Whatever – or _whoever_ locked the door can't keep us here forever. It sounds like a cowardly plan, but what else can we do? We can't just go around trying to break windows or lockpicking like amateurs. There has to be another solution, and until we think of it we'll just be stuck here anyways. So, we'll just have to go along with it, right?"

"As strange as that sounds coming from her, I think Maki-chan's right!" Honoka exclaimed, "I'm sure it'll be just as fun anyways! A bit more adventure? Sign me up! I-it can't possibly be that bad! Let's look around!"

While Maki was caught a little off guard with Honoka's first comment, everyone eventually nodded in agreement and went to follow the student council president to proceed like everything was normal again.

The palace was copious in every shape and form, ages grander than even all of Maki's homes combined. Even just standing in the entrance hall, one had to stop for a moment to take in the very sight of it. Between the ceiling that reached to the sky with a dazzling chandelier just dangling from it, expensive drapes over several types of marble and stone, and statues that screamed of the renaissance, there was just so much to look at.

Yet it was so beautiful.

However, just another step forward… Maki began to feel dizzy. It wasn't like she felt sick, but she couldn't make sense of where she was going, and everything was spinning. It was a strange feeling – why was she like this all of a sudden? The redhead attempted to set her mind straight and catch her balance, however that plan wasn't going so well.

"-Hey, guys – I think I-…" She stuttered weakly before immediately falling backwards. Kotori ran deliberately to catch her, and she was immediately bombarded with a flurry of blurry, worried faces, shouting out her name with concern.

"Maki-chan!"

"Maki!"

"Maki, are you alright?"

"Hey, Maki-chan, answer us!"

"…Maki?"

She couldn't answer them, as much as she wanted to.

Her vision was fading, she couldn't move and she felt her heart beating inside of her – it all happened so fast and there was nothing she could do to react. Before she knew it Maki had fainted, her consciousness slipping before her.

It all went dark.

Darkness everywhere, from all sides, every corner. Yet if Maki looked down at herself, she could still see her hands – or at least she thought she could. A strange tingling sensation quickly overtook her entire body, and the tingling turned into pain. She could feel it, like invisible knives that drove into every nerve inside of her, trying to rip her apart.

 _What is this…? What's going on?_ The girl wondered, staring at her hands with wide eyes. She could feel every ounce of blood that ran through her veins, every breath felt exaggerated, and her head was pounding intensely. There was no way to describe the way she was feeling but it definitely wasn't a good one. The feeling got more intense by the second, pulsing inside of her and making her want to scream, yet everything was pure black and there was nobody.

There was nobody out there to hear her.

 _What is this place? What just happened? Why can't I make sense of any of this?_

Maki's mind filled with questions buzzing around back and forth, causing her migraine to increase. There was just no end.

Suddenly, the nonexistent floor gave way beneath her. She was falling.

As to how and where she was falling – the answer was still unknown. Yet with the wind carrying through her hair and the extreme feeling inside of her that made her _feel_ like she was falling… It had to have been real.

Maki's eyes shut tight, not wanting to look at only the darkness, although it didn't help much. There seemed to be no ground to this place, no end to this everlasting fall. After a minute or two things started to seem hopeless. Was she just in some sort of strange dream? It seemed that way, yet it all felt so real.

Dreams could be funny that way, couldn't they?

She opened her eyes again to see what looked like the ground not too far underneath of her, ready to have her collide with it any second. The shock would possibly be enough to cause Maki to awaken from whatever strange dream this was – or at least she hoped so.

Three… Two… One.

Taking a deep breath, the girl prepared herself for whatever would happen next when something had stopped her from falling.

A hand.

A strong but slender and pale hand reached for her wrist and held her, keeping her from ending her fall. Peering up at the source of the hand, Maki could barely make out some sort of feminine figure, heavily clothed. There was no way to make out any other details than that, since behind the figure was a blinding, penetrating light.

" **Come with me…"** The figure spoke in a deep, obscure voice that Maki had never heard before. Since she could barely move, she was definitely "coming with" that figure whether she wanted to or not.

The hand began to pull her up as her eyes darted around curiously. Below her there was darkness and above her there was light. The contrast was strong and something about that light just felt incredibly warm and comforting. Much more so than that below her, which felt cold and distant.

The thing Maki didn't understand about all of this was the sheer nonsensicalness of it all. She didn't seem to understand the situation very well, and that frustrated her.

As the hand pulled her up, the light grew brighter. Maki blinked, rubbed her eyes, and… Was that a window?

Yes, it was a window. The same kind of window that lined a majority of the castle walls shone a brightness into Maki's lilac eyes, a soft but old looking curtain hanging bleakly from it. Maki sat up to find that she was sitting in a twin-sized bed, the covers having been pulled over her.

"Maybe it was just a dream," She muttered aloud, shaking her head. That was the most logical option after all. She wasn't sure how long she'd been dreaming, or why she'd passed out in the first place – her being in this bed made no sense either.

While pondering over all these questions and this sudden confusion Maki had for herself, she noticed something at the foot of her bed. Something long, thin and wrapped in paper, just sitting there. Instinctively Maki stood up and picked up the object, unrolling the thin paper from around it and took a good look at what it was.

In her hands now, she could definitely tell it was a flower. Some sort of rose – wait, she knew this one. It was the flower that Eli had given to Nozomi before they'd entered the castle. While it was thoughtful of them to leave a flower at the foot of that bed for her to find, Maki was more relieved that she'd just answered one of her own questions.

Taking a step away from the bed, Maki took a moment to regain her balance. At least she wasn't feeling dizzy now. The first thing that had come to Maki's priorities was that she should figure out where the others were. That would be a good place to start, wouldn't it?

Just by looking around at the room Maki was in, one could tell that it was definitely designed to be a bedroom. Besides the bed, there was also a vanity dresser with a mirror, a chest which held her belongings in it, and a door, of course. Maki exited the room to find herself in a short hall with nine doors in it, including the one she'd just come out of. She turned her head to see her name taped on the door in paper. So, that must be her room. The rest of the rooms had names taped onto them as well, each for a different girl respectively.

There was even a room for Nico. Why bother, though? It wasn't like she was staying there too. Simply shrugging it off, Maki decided to go down a spiraling staircase which lead to a grand rotunda with an impressive dome painted in such a design that it could leave one in awe with its fancy colors and patterns.

Alone in the center of the room stood Nozomi just gazing around the room, quite dazzled by it.

"What an odd painting," the purple-haired graduate remarked, "this entire place screams of bad energy… I can feel it inside of me. There's definitely something spiritual about it…"

Maki gave no mind to Nozomi's ramblings and after a moment or two followed her out of the room back to the entrance hall, where the other six girls were gathered in a semi-circle around the front door, Umi at the head of it.

"…Rule number two, we should all try not to wander around at night… you never know what could happen," The to-be-third-year necessitated, holding up a finger.

"I'm back!" Nozomi announced, and everyone looked over at her.

"Oh, welcome back. We're just making some general rules that everyone should try to follow and going over them," replied Eli, "please, come join us."

Nozomi nodded cheerfully and she walked over to their circle, Maki following not far behind.

"So far, we have two rules set up. The first one is that if anything goes wrong, notify another one of us immediately! Secondly, no wandering around alone at night. At least not until we're familiar with the building. It's much easier to get lost when it's dark, so it's best to be careful. Now, hmm… What else can we add to this?"

Hanayo looked up thoughtfully, seeming to get an idea. "Oh-! Uhm, how about we—um, we could all meet up for breakfast every morning at the same time?"

"Oh, that's good. We should all wake up at se—"

"Ten-thirty AM!" Honoka.

"Honoka-chan, nobody's going to wait that long for breakfast!"

"Then how about just ten?"

"If you're going to push this, you're not going to get breakfast at all. How about we compromise; eight-thirty?"

Honoka let out a long, muffled groan, her hands over her face. "Kotori-chan, can you~?"

Kotori bit her lip, looking between Umi and Honoka. "Ehhm, I think eight-thirty is fine…"

More incessant groaning from Honoka.

"Come on, Honoka-chan! It won't be that bad! Eight-thirty isn't all that early… You can sleep in all you want after breakfast, right?" Rin urged, however Honoka still didn't seem too pleased with the idea.

"I think we're getting a bit too far from the point here…" Maki mumbled.

"Alright, back to the topic. I have another request. Would it be alright if we could keep things quiet after 10PM?" Eli asked. "I think some of us would rather go to bed a little earlier than others~"

"I have no objections to that." Umi said, and pulled out a small notepad which she had written all the rules down on so far, adding the new one. Man, she was on top of this.

"When exploring new parts of the castle, we'd better stay in groups! Should that be a rule, orr—?" Nozomi tilted her head, waiting for the others' approval.

"Sounds alright to me. Anything else?"

Nobody seemed to have any more ideas, so they left it at that.

"Speaking of, we haven't been able to explore yet!" Honoka remembered. "So let's go!"

"That's a good idea!" Hanayo agreed happily.

"I agree," Eli said with a smile, "why don't we?"

With that, eight girls went walking down the corridors of the palace.

There were many luxurious rooms inside the castle, the first one they checked out being the kitchen.

Honoka of course was simply in awe with the kitchen. Since her family owned a sweet shop, they had a nice one too – but this was the fanciest kitchen she'd ever seen.

There was a little machine for almost anything you could think of. An espresso machine. A toaster. A toaster oven. A pizza oven. A microwave oven. An oven oven. Don't even forget the bread-cutting machine.

Honoka excitedly (and aggressively) opened up the bread cupboard only to be greeted with a loaf of bread falling on her face, a short cry following.

Rin and Hanayo checked out the stock of food together; between the fridge and the walk-in pantry there was so much food that it'd probably last them weeks. That is, as long as Honoka and Hanayo didn't end up gravitating over to it for some "casual snacks".

The kitchen connected into a nice dining hall, with a long table that was big enough for everyone to sit at. In a cupboard were a ton of fancy dishes and silverware that were nice enough that most people would only want to use them once a year or at some sort of royal banquet, as they seemed to be the kind that broke easily and costed a lot.

Maki took a plate out of the cupboard and thoroughly looked at it, and surely enough it was all fine porcelain.

Down another hall, there was a big room with a heated pool. A bit unfitting for such an old building as the pool appeared to be fairly new, but nobody was complaining. Or rather, they wouldn't be… If Umi wasn't there.

"This is perfect! We can all train in here! Running, swimming laps, every day…!"

"Umi-chan, um…" Rin poked her lightly on the shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "We aren't really school idols anymore, so there's no use in training… r-right?"

"Hm? Nonsense! Of course we can still train. Physical education is vital!"

"I think Rin's right," Maki added, "a bit of light exercise is good, but—"

"I agree with Rin-chan…" Hanayo scratched the back of her head. "We don't have to train like we used to anymore, but… um, light swimming is still nice!"

Nozomi twirled a piece of hair, not seeming to mind either way – however, she wasn't any fonder of Umi's harsh training sessions than the others were. "Occasionally playing in the pool sounds great to me," she mused, then glanced over at Eli for her verdict as well.

"Sorry Umi, but I have to say the same. We all appreciate your hard work, but… I don't think anyone wants to endure all that, especially while we're busy in this situation alone." She still knew that Umi would be persistent in getting them to train, even on vacation. She didn't want her feelings to be hurt, but it was better to get straight to the point than to flat out avoid it.

Umi tried not to pout, but found her calm face twitching. "I… I see… Well, then, let's… continue. Yes! Let's continue." She wasn't going to let it bother her. As much as she'd have liked to train with her friends, she could make do with simply working out alone or going for something that wasn't _quite_ as conditioning.

Continuing on with exploration, the following room seemed to be some sort of lofty living room. Open and cozy, it had a few couches with lots of cushions, a good supply of cards, board games and even a fireplace.

"A fireplace!" Kotori exclaimed.

"It's just like, um, the one in Maki-chan's house…" Hanayo noted.

"…Y-yeah, it is… Do you think it works?"

"There's only one way to find out!"

Kotori looked around for something she could light the fireplace with, as it already had a few logs in it. She eventually found a box of matches, and attempted to strike one. Problem is, it wouldn't light.

"Oh, u-uh, let me try it—!" Hanayo offered, then was promptly handed the box of matches. "Ee—gh!" She tried striking with all her might, but it was still not enough power.

"You're not pressing hard enough, nya! Do it like this!" Rin took one of the matches and stroke it with adequate speed, and the match lit aflame successfully. She then dropped it into the fireplace, which quickly caught a nice and healthy blaze.

Seven of the girls huddled around the fireplace enamored by its warmth and beauty, while Maki sat in the back of the room unimpressed. After all, she had a fireplace like this in her home; although she preferred to have it kept clean for Christmas every year, so it was rarely lit.

"Harasho~! How nice and warm," Eli commented, "I could just bathe in this heat forever… Ah, but we have to keep exploring. There's still more of the castle left."

"Aww, but—it feels so good!" Honoka drawled. "We can't just stay for a couple more minutes?"

Kotori nodded. "Please, can't we?"

"No, we can't just spend all day here. Come on, let's go." Eli stood up and went to fill a pot of water.

The girls reluctantly extinguished the fire and went to explore the rest of the castle, as there was still much more to explore.

Walking down another hall, the girls came across two more doors that didn't have labels. "Hm, this one's locked," Nozomi inferred, shaking the door handle.

Kotori tried to open the other door, but that too was locked.

Honoka walked up to her to see if the door was _actually_ locked, questions filling her head. Yes, the door was _actually_ locked. "Hm, I wonder what could be behind these?"

"They probably don't lead to anything significant," Maki said, "but if they do, then they're probably locked for a reason."

The last places that seemed worth searching were two large storage rooms and a small library.

The two storage rooms had everything you could ever need: toiletries, games, clothes, emergency items, décor, sleeping bags, school supplies and more. If there was anything you ever needed, you could probably find it in there.

What about the library? Well, if you could even call it that. The only kind of books in there were lots of manga, which were probably good if one wanted to pass the time without having to think too much.

"Who left this here?" Umi asked, not particularly impressed. "No, really, who would leave their entire manga collection inside an old castle? It couldn't have been the people in charge of this place, it just isn't fitting…"

"Each to their own, it seems. Maybe someone had brought their kids along, or was just such a big fan in general that they donated it," Eli told her. That seemed like a possibility.

There were more rooms in the castle, but nothing too notable.

Just places to lounge around in, more hallways and that of the like.

As a final stop, everyone gathered in that main rotunda which lead up to their rooms. They created sort of a jagged oval-ish circle to discuss what their next move would be.

"If we are going to continue living here until the door's unlocked," Umi began, stepping into the circle a bit, "we're going to have to follow the rules that we made, keep calm at all times and never hesitate to tell one another if something's wrong. I don't think it's going to be that bad, but—with the way things have been so far, it never hurts to keep your eyes open."

Each person gave a nod as if they were checking a box in the Terms and Conditions of a website, then went off to do their own thing.

Personally, Maki went back up to her room. Seeing the same rose from earlier, Maki picked it up. She'd need to find a vase for it and give it some water, or it would shrivel up and die.

For a flower, living was the one and only goal it could have.

Unlike humans, which needed much more than the necessities to survive. She propped it up on the sill of the window next to her bed and looked out of it. Since it was opaque, there really wasn't much to see… But even just looking at that window, it reminded her of that peculiar dream that had happened just earlier.

While most dreams faded away too quickly to have a sharp memory of them, Maki still remembered it like it had really happened. It was so life-like and real… There had to be a purpose for it.

Part of her wanted to think it had some sort of spiritual meaning – she'd have to ask Nozomi about that. What was the reason for such a dream like that?

She still didn't get it, and possibly never would.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hello there again! This chapter went a lot faster than I expected, huh. Well, here it is! I hope you enjoyed it. I don't really have that much to say about this, actually, but if you could please tell me what you thought, leave a review, I would really appreciate it! :)**

 **Now that I'm on the 2nd chapter, I do feel like I'm beginning to get a better grip on this even as a writer myself. That being said, I am working on ch. 8/9 simultaneously... This fic isn't supposed to be one of those HUGE sUPER LONG novels, I was thinking around ~30k words. However, with how things are going... I think it might end up to be more than that, hehe~**

 **Anyways, see you next time!**


	3. Usual Days

The next week had continued on like everything was completely normal. It was like everyone had forgotten the front door had been locked in the first place and all they felt like doing was being together, having fun and relaxing like it was just some ordinary vacation. Nothing felt wrong at all.

That wasn't a problem—at least not for most of the girls. Maki had unintentionally become a bit of a loner, finding herself unable to jump in to conversations, because whenever she tried there was never a good opening or subject to join in with.

Instead, the tomato-haired girl found herself secluded and alone, simply sitting on a sofa and listening while playing with a piece of hair, always hoping just a little bit that someone might decide to go over to her and provide the kindling for the fire that would get her involved again. That didn't happen.

Watching all the others sit over there having countless conversations laughing and giggling as if they had not a problem nor a care in the whole world made Maki feel like she somehow missed them. They were all in the same room as her yet she still felt strangely distant. At that particular moment she figured it was just an off day. Maybe it really was just her; she could just be hungry or something. Standing up, Maki decided that the best option was to give it a break. There was a chance that her mind was trying to tell her something and that she simply needed to be by herself for a little bit.

Maki left the room without a word, and nobody paid much notice to it. She didn't care all that much, since they were pretty busy anyways and wouldn't have noticed anything with her being so quiet.

The to-be-second-year strolled down a long hall, looking up at the windows. _We never considered the windows. Is it possible to break them?_ She wondered. _It isn't like we've tried. That's probably my fault, though._ Maki looked around a bit and the thought came to her that she should try to break one of the windows, but first she had to find something to do so with. While whoever was keeping them here wouldn't be very happy about it, it would be worth a shot.

When Maki tried to think of places she could find heavy objects to strike the windows with, the only places that came to mind were the two storage rooms. With such a variety of objects to choose from there she was sure she'd find something of use. There were lots of boxes all labelled and organized so it would never be hard to find something you were looking for.

Yet what exactly was she looking for?

Sorting through the different boxes, Maki skipped over the ones that obviously would be useless – dishes, clothes, and school supplies. After that were gardening tools and sports equipment, which would both likely have at least _something_ useful in them.

Eventually Maki picked out a nice oak baseball bat, giving it a nice swing. That should do the job, right? After all, she remembered the countless times people in the movies have broken windows while playing baseball. While this definitely wasn't the movies, that seemed like something that could actually happen in a real life scenario.

It wasn't much longer before Maki stood before one of the biggest windows in the castle she'd seen so far, both hands firmly gripped on the bat. While she didn't consider herself the best at sports, she had a little bit of faith that she could do it. It was only glass, really. However, she had a certain hesitancy while going to break it. If she broke that window, everyone could escape the castle. Then what? They'd all go back down to their homes, and the chance to have a nice holiday together would be wasted. It wasn't like she wanted to stay here for a long time, but after all that hype she felt like she might end up being guilty for putting an end to it.

Nevertheless, Maki would do it anyways. Taking a deep breath, the girl twisted her shoulders to the side, winding her arms backwards. With one swift move she swung it hard at the window, hoping to at least make a crack in it.

 _Donk._

Lowering the baseball bat, she eyed the window with both astonishment and disappointment. No cracks. No dents. Not a single scratch on that window. "How strong _is_ that glass…?" She wondered aloud.

Might as well try again.

 _Donk. Donk. Donkdonkdonk._

It was no use. This glass was somehow stronger than steel. Was it even glass at all, or was it some strange unbreakable substance? Either way, Maki couldn't even mark it. She just gave up, dropping the bat on the floor with a rather loud _clank_ , quite a bit louder than she'd expected. She hadn't thrown it on the ground, not violently anyway.

Now silent, Maki heard the voices from the other room quieting.

"Did anyone hear that?" Rin's voice echoed.

Then Hanayo's voice. "I did!"

"I'll go check it out," Nozomi's voice said, and a couple seconds later Nozomi walked out from the living room into the hall to see just what was going on.

She walked a bit closer. She looked at Maki, down at the baseball bat at Maki's feet, then back up to Maki, stifling a lighthearted chuckle.

"Hey, what's the deal?" Maki raised an eyebrow, but she didn't get an answer. Nozomi looked back down at the baseball bat, shook her head, then began walking back. A little annoyed, Maki picked up the bat again and followed her carefully, however instead of going into the room alongside her upperclassman she stayed right outside the door letting Nozomi walk in by herself.

"So? Did you find out what that noise was?" Honoka asked the second Nozomi walked back into the room, and the graduate looked at her strangely for a second before softening her expression slightly.

"Oh, it was nothing. Don't worry about it." She responded casually, and within moments everyone was back to what they had been doing previously.

Still standing outside the door, the red-haired girl tapped her baseball bat nervously. Why were they acting so strange all of a sudden? It wasn't really something she should have been worrying about, and she didn't want to. It was probably nothing, after all. Why would there have been a need to make a reaction? She supposed there wasn't, but it was still strange to her that nobody really questioned it all.

It was getting close to night and Maki was still hungry. She'd forgotten about all that when she got the idea of hitting the window, although now that she was thinking about it again she really did want something to eat. The kitchen wasn't far away, so maybe she could make something for herself, maybe leave a little extra out in case someone else came along and wanted some too.

 _What should I make?_ Maki asked herself as she strolled down the hall to the kitchen. _While something fancy would be nice, I could really just go for some pasta right now…_

Yes, pasta would be just fine. Spiral noodles with tomato sauce? Perfect, and easy too. Maki searched through the pantry for the things she needed—tomatoes, noodles and the like. She set a pot of water on the stove and waited for it to boil, then started gazing off into space just to think about things.

There was no doubt about it: this was by far one of the strangest (if not _the_ strangest) situations Maki had ever been in. The mystery, while it confused her, it also intrigued her. While she wasn't particularly concerned about anything at the moment, there were many questions that still rested unanswered and she wanted answers to them.

Before she knew it the pot of noodles had finished boiling, and it was time to add the sauce. When everything was finished Maki took the pasta to the dining room to enjoy it by herself, giving a light sigh. She couldn't hear any footsteps or voices from the other room, so it was clear nobody else was coming at the moment. It was interesting how easily you could hear people in this castle, as the walls were quite thin and always seemed to echo any sound they took in. With that, you'd probably always be able to tell if someone was nearby.

Right then there was nobody. Nobody but Maki and her pasta, which seemed quite bland despite having her favorite kind of tomato sauce, but it wasn't bad.

That same night ended quietly as Maki had taken to read a piece of manga before going to bed. While it didn't have the qualities of a real novel, at least it was something. It wasn't half-bad, either: as soon as you could get past the blindly obvious tropes and how everything that happened was much more overdramatic than it needed to be, there was nice action and some interesting twists.

 _I wonder if we'll come across any turns like this?_ _Hah, as if!_

Maki laid back down onto her bed and dropped the manga next to it, her face caressed by the bed's fluffy pillows. She was quite tired, so falling asleep wouldn't be that hard. What would the next day bring? She hoped it would be more interesting than that one. Although the room was in complete darkness Maki swore she could have seen someone, just a shadowy figure illuminated by the moonlight. One blink and it disappeared.

Was she seeing things?

She sat up but decided to pay no mind to it, lying back down again. Her eyes slowly fell shut and the girl had become entranced into her dreams, ensuring what would hopefully be a good night's sleep.

* * *

The moment the sun arose the next day, Hanayo was awoken to a cheerful set of knocking on her door.

"…Hm? Who could it be at this time of day?" She whispered to herself, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Putting on a pair of slippers, Hanayo got up and opened the door to see her orange-haired friend all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in front of her, waving her arms ecstatically.

"Morning, Kayo-chin!" Rin exclaimed, before covering her mouth and hushing herself. "Whoops, I can't be too loud—then I'd wake everyone up!"

"U-uwah, morning, Rin-chan…" Hanayo greeted confusedly, barely able to keep herself awake. "…Why are you up so… so early?"

"Hm? Don't you remember? It's August 3rd!"

"August 3rd?!"

"Yes! Which means we have to get up very early! And we have to be _very_ quiet!"

"But… uh, why do we have to get up _this_ early? We have plenty of time during the day…"

"Because we need to make it a surprise!"

"Rin-chaaan… Just one more hour?"

"Nope. Come on, let's get Kotori-chan, she'll be able to help us too."

Rin took Hanayo's hand and pulled her out of her room while Hanayo quietly sobbed her famous line, "Someone help me~!"

"Shh, this'll be fun, Kayo-chin! Trust me, nya~!"

Hanayo sighed, but went along with Rin anyways. She was tired, but she wanted to trust in her too—and besides, whatever she planned on doing would probably be a lot of fun… After a cup of tea, or something.

 _Knock, knock, knock-knock._

"Hello, Kotori-chan? Awake?" Rin called, trying not to get too much louder than she was.

The door opened immediately, and Kotori was already dressed in a nice but casual dress, her hair already done. Huh. "Are you ready?" She asked the two, smiling brightly.

"Woah! You're so… prepared!" Hanayo gasped, then looked down at herself in disappointment. Of course she was still wearing pajamas; not like she was given time to change.

Rin nodded in agreement with Hanayo, although she was dressed too. Not quite as nicely, but still pleasantly enough. Looking over at Kotori, Rin clasped her hands together. "Yep, we're ready, nya! Come on, we don't have that much time—two hours? Let's go!"

The three girls ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, and work began.

"Butter? Check! Eggs? Check! Milk? Check! Baking powder? Check! Vanilla? Check! Flour, Check!" Hanayo read off of an ingredient list as Rin and Kotori got each of them out, setting them onto the island counter. "…Um, strawberries?"

"Check!" Rin responded, putting down a basket of fresh red strawberries.

"Ooooh, those look yummy!" Hanayo leaned over to stare at the berries, her mouth forming an 'o'.

"Mm, they do! I don't know how this place gets them so fresh, but I'm sure Honoka-chan will love them, won't she?" Kotori said, picking one up and pulling off its green top.

"…Um, okay. Now that we have all the ingredients, it's time to get baking~! Baking a cake, baking a cake, baking a cake, nya~!" Rin cheered and threw her arm into the air, twirling a spoon.

"Yay!" Kotori chirped.

Hanayo went to join in as well, however she stopped herself. "Um, b-but, why are we baking a cake again?"

"Oh… Did you forget? Today's Honoka-chan's birthday!" Kotori told her. "So, we have to make her a surprise cake… And hopefully a surprise party. If we work together, it'll be great, I think!"

"I'm so tired…" Hanayo mumbled, running a hand through her short hair. "But, I can try anyways. Let's do this…! Uhhhhh…. What's the first step…?"

"First, it says to preheat the oven to 175 degrees..." Kotori read out from the cookbook.

Naturally, Rin was already on it. "Okay, check! What next, Kotori-chan?"

"Um, now we need to stir the sugar in with the butter."

Hanayo got the sugar and poured it into the bowl, but she accidentally poured a bit too much, emptying almost half the container into it. "Ah! Oops! A-ah, sorry! What do I do…?"

Rin tilted her head and tapped her chin. She walked up to the bowl, and wondered what they could do. "Hm… ah… oh! We put how much we need into measuring cups, then pour the rest back into the container, then back into the bowl. Would that work?" She glanced towards Kotori and awaited her nod of approval.

"Yes, I think so… But be careful!"

Slowly, Hanayo took a measuring cup and began to tilt the bowl towards it, but her hands were so shaky that she was probably going to spill if she went any further.

"I can't watch! Sorry Kayo-chin, let me handle this." Rin reached forward and grabbed the bowl firmly, then quickly poured the right amount into the measuring cups. "Phew! There. Close one."

"Sorry…" Hanayo sort of attempted to smile, but it was more like a cringe. She wasn't that bad at baking and she's definitely baked before, but she was still very tired and effort required energy.

"It's alright," Kotori reassured her, and smiled back in a much more generic way saying, "let's just keep trying!"

After a bit, things seemed to be going well. All of the ingredients were mixed together quite nicely, and while the entire kitchen was a complete and total mess, at least the cake was now in the oven.

Three girls stared at the oven impatiently, waiting for the cake to bake. While it only had to be in for forty minutes, forty minutes was a long time when all you could do was wait. The cake smelled really good, too.

Hanayo decided to break the silence by finally saying something. "I can't wait…" She sighed in delight, and pressed her nose up against the oven's glass to see how well she could see inside. With the oven light on, of course.

"Oh, me too! I think it'll be really yummy!" Kotori nodded enthusiastically, and both she and Rin ducked down to look as well.

"Let's just hope we don't end up eating it before the party, nya… Hey, Honoka-chan doesn't know we're throwing her a party, right?" Rin asked.

"Well, she'll probably remember that it's her birthday, but… hm. I think she'll love it either way!"

"Yeah, you're right! I'm sure she will!"

While the cake baked, the room became fragrant with the delicious smell that there always seemed to be when baking. It was so overwhelming, just taking it in – a nice mix of strawberries and sugar – made it like one could taste the cake already. Once the forty minutes were up, Kotori carefully took the cake out with a pair of oven mitts and set it back onto the counter.

"There we go! It should be done now." She decreed, brushing a sweat off her forehead.

Rin clasped her hands together. "Finally!"

What a beauty it was. A hot, delicious strawberry cake stood there to cool, and how tempting it was to take just a tiny little nibble just to taste! For such a short amount of time, it was perfect... Despite being so perfect there was still one little thing it was missing. Just _one_.

"A-aren't we going to frost it?" Hanayo scratched her head, eyeing the frosting-less cake with care. "It looks a little bare…"

"Uwah, I forgot!" Kotori slapped her own face. How could she have forgotten? It had just come out of the oven, but it wasn't like they'd given extra time to put frosting on the cake – they didn't make any of it in advance either.

"And there's only five minutes before everyone's supposed to come down for breakfast!" Rin exclaimed, now in a bit of a hurry.

"Knowing Honoka-chan, she wouldn't come down that soon… but now it won't be a surprise to the others."

"We'll just have to do with what we can! Quickly, Kayo-chin—find a recipe for frosting!"

"O-okay!" Hanayo went as fast as she could to the cookbook, flipping through the pages. Frosting was never hard, right? All it needed was sugar, and… other ingredients she couldn't remember. Since that was the case, finding a recipe was essential. With each page, Hanayo hoped more and more there'd be something, _anything_ like they were looking for. Even the table of contents wasn't very helpful in trying to find exactly what she was looking for—between dips to desserts it could be anywhere.

Getting to the end of the book, the brunette gave a defeated sigh. There was no frosting recipe of any kind throughout that entire thing. "It's useless! There's no time!" She cried, slamming the book shut.

"We have to think of something, nya! Kotori-chan, you don't know any frosting recipes, do you?"

Kotori shook her head… Then an idea popped up in her head. "Nope…. Oh, what if we just covered the top in whipped cream and strawberries?!"

"We could do that!" Hanayo gasped. What a great and simple idea.

Rin got a can of whip from the fridge—two minutes later the cake was not only finished but looked presentable as well.

It was 8:30 and luckily everything was ready. While the kitchen hung in a tranquil silence for a minute, the girls knew that as soon as everyone came downstairs the true fun would begin. Kotori sighed. She was glad that despite all of what's happened so far everyone could still enjoy themselves. Still, she was quite worried about one thing. That one thing wasn't really something she should have been worried about—after all, it would all turn out to be fine, wouldn't it? While she wouldn't tell her friends what that one thing was, it never came off of her mind. She knew just as well they were all thinking about that same thing too, but if they were to say a word about it everyone would be gloomy.

Footsteps. They could hear footsteps, but no voices. With only that much it was hard to tell who was coming, since mere footsteps weren't distinct enough to differentiate between different girls and everyone pretty much wore the same type of shoes anyways. _Click, clack. Click, clack._ The footsteps grew louder while Kotori, Hanayo and Rin stood in the kitchen without saying a word.

The door swung open, but nobody was there.

Exchanging glances, the girls weren't sure what to think. Who was that? _What_ was that? Kotori walked up to the door and looked down the hall. "Hello? Good morning…?" Her eyes darted back and forth, from the floor to the ceiling.

She knew it wasn't just her. All three of them had heard something, and they needed to know who it was.

A few seconds later, someone came out from the corner behind the door and all four of them jumped.

Blond hair, blue eyes and very startled, it was Eli. "Good morning! Did I startle you…?"

Kotori gasped, but shook her head. "No, not at all… It's still very early in the morning. Are you the only one up?"

"Ah, no… Actually, Nozomi is up as well. What are you doing in here?"

"Well, um, hm. Today is Honoka-chan's birthday, and… well, come see!" Kotori stepped out of the way from the door and gestured to the other two with the cake.

"Oh, harasho! You baked a cake for Honoka, I see. It looks delicious."

"Yes! Hopefully she'll like it… We'll all share it together, even though we aren't complete."

"That would be wonderful. Do you mind if I go and see if the others are awake?" Eli pointed back towards the door, "Nozomi is upstairs right now, so I should probably go and check on her…"

"Go ahead! We'll just be waiting, okay? If you see Honoka-chan, don't spoil the surprise!"

"Will do!" Eli waved to them and left the room.

She returned shortly after with nearly everyone; the exception being one person.

The only person in the castle who wasn't present in the kitchen was the birthday girl herself.

"Oh, she's still asleep." Umi explained, answering the question before it was even asked. "I was going to wake her up, but… Today should be an exception, shouldn't it?"

Kotori grinned. "I'm sure she'll appreciate those extra hours!"

"Although, if she's not coming to eat breakfast… what will we do until she does wake up?" Eli wondered.

"We'll just have to wait… It won't really be that bad if we decide to eat breakfast a bit later than usual." While it wasn't much, Maki felt relieved that she was able to make a comment here—luckily she felt like being a bit more sociable than she did the evening beforehand, and her tongue was no longer twisted in knots. Not a second later commenced the loud sound of Rin jumping off a chair, causing everyone to look her direction.

"We could play a game!" She declaratively suggested, shooting a finger up in the air. "There's lots of board games in the living room, I'm sure we can find something we could play together!"

Without even a word it was decided that they would do it. Nobody had any better ideas, and board games could be pretty fun.

The castle had a great collection of card games and board games alike. Japanese classics such as Jinsei Game, Renju and Shogi were there, but also some western games like Monopoly, Carcassonne and Chutes & Ladders too – not to mention all the card games as well. Even with such a variety of games packed into the cupboards, nobody could agree on anything.

One person wanted to play one thing, and another some other, there wasn't even a majority vote to count on. Not every game was made for enough players, not every game was considered fun in everyone's eyes, arguments over traditional games versus modern games flung left and right and in the end they just had no way to come to a good conclusion.

Suddenly a certain orange-haired, blue-eyed girl popped out of nowhere with a "Why don't we play Uno?!"

"Honoka-chan?" Kotori jumped in surprise. "Where did you come from?!"

"What d'you mean? I've been right here the whole time!"

"Looks like I didn't have to wake you up after all," Umi commented, giggling a little.

Honoka laughed a bit too. "I mean; I wasn't going to miss _breakfast_! Except, when I came into the kitchen nobody was there, but…" Honoka figured that it wouldn't be a good idea to mention that really tasty looking cake that she saw... Good thing she was able to keep herself from eating it but she was indeed guilty of having a _few_ nibbles.

"Hm, a card game wouldn't be so bad," Nozomi said, although she had to think about it for a moment.

Maki rolled her eyes. " _Not so bad?_ Don't you use cards all the time?"

"You're in luck because we have UNO! Come on, sit down!" Honoka gestured for everyone to sit in a circle, and they all did just that. Honoka left a larger space between herself and Rin, grabbed the deck and began to deal out the black-and-red cards like she'd done it millions of times before.

Though when she distributed the cards she didn't put down eight sets but nine.

Nine sets of cards? How did that make sense? Again, even though Maki wanted Nico to be there as much as anyone else did she didn't get why Honoka would put down a set for someone that wasn't even there. Even though she wanted to question it, there was no satisfying answer she could think of so it was better to not. Whether it was out of consideration for Nico's absence or just for the fun of it—whatever reason Honoka did that for didn't matter to her.

The game begun and everyone began slapping their cards onto the pile. With the reverses, draw-fours, color swaps, and all the suppressed rage boiling within those who lost terribly, the game had been a lot of fun. It wasn't a surprise that Nozomi came out as the victor, and even though Nico wasn't even there she still somehow won over Umi.

Maki had always given a chuckle whenever Honoka called out "Draw four for Nico-chan!"—Eli had been given permission to glance at her cards, although it seemed like she kept trying to sneak a glance at Maki's cards as well. She took Eli for someone who was a fair player… Until now; yet she was only a tad bit suspicious.

After the card game, Honoka wanted to eat the cake as soon as possible!

She stared at the cake, stared at it hard. "Can we… eat this instead of breakfast~?" She pleaded.

"Um, well, it's your birthday, Honoka-chan!" Hanayo told her. "So… maybe you can make the call?"

"Alright! Cake for breakfast it is. Just for today, though. Aaaand I'll cut it, too!"

Honoka took out the cake-cutting knife and cut up nine perfect slices.

"…Who's going to eat the last piece?" Eli asked, seeing as once again there was an extra.

"Even though Nico-chan's not here, it's unfair to leave her out, isn't it? We'll save it, of course!"

Yeah, like it'd last _that_ long.

Each of the girls took their own piece, Honoka's just coincidentally with the most strawberries on it.

All the to-be-third years sat together; the two 'lovebird'-like graduates and the two short-haired girls sat together, just about everyone in small groups or pairs.

That left the last person to be Maki, sitting by herself with her own cake and Nico's slice of cake. She was sure she was only supposed to look after it in case someone tried to come and eat it, though… It was a silly idea, but that slice of cake made her feel a bit less alone. Everyone else had someone to pair up with, why shouldn't she as well?

Good thing the cake was sweet. She had to admit that it tasted better than mikan. If Nico tried the cake, Maki was sure she'd like it too – since she seemed to like anything and everything that was sweet.

Remembering the game they'd all just played, Maki wondered once again if it really did matter whether or not Honoka had included Nico in on their activities. She didn't want to say that it did. She didn't want to believe that it did.

There was a part of her that felt bad when she did, as it gave her a guilty feeling—like something was her fault, even if she didn't know what that something was. It was nonsensical of her to think that way but she just didn't know what else to think.

It didn't matter to her.

That's what she told herself that day.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Hello! ! goodness gracious that took. A long time to write. Partly because I was busy, partly because of writer's block and partly because of the damn birds in my room… whoops.**

 **Well, another sort of fun chapter, I guess. Trust me or not, but I've got a lot more interesting things planned for the remainder of the story… So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyways-! Please LEAVE A REVIEW, tell me what you thought of this chapter, what you think's going to happen! Constructive criticism is good too, since that's what helps me improve! I apologize if my voice seemed a bit monotonous or blank in this chapter, it's a bit of a hassle to write the parts essential to the plot but you just want to post the exciting parts already, eheh… I'm sure a lot of you get what I mean, and I hope it wasn't especially a problem or anything.**

 **Till next time!**

 **Zuzanna**


	4. Read & Tell

"Rin wants to go outside, nya~! Feel the sun on my shoulders again! It's only been two weeks, but… nya… staying inside for too long can't be good for you. I just want to run through the grass! Look up at the sky! Castles are exciting at first, but after a while they get pretty boring… Ah, it's still nice being together again, but it's not the same. I really want to say good morning to you, too! Ask how you're doing; you know?"

The sides of the girl's lips curled up slightly, a brittle smile forming on her face. She gazed up at the window next to her, the warm morning sunlight gleaming through it in dust-filled streaks—even though it didn't feel that warm to her. "I wonder if you can somehow hear me... Hm, am I forgetting anything? Oh! Last week was Honoka-chan's birthday, and we made a cake for her and passed the time by playing some card games… Actually, to be honest, it would've been more fun if you played too. Since then… There really hasn't been anything new. It's getting so boring here, always the same old things! But… Hm, as long as we're all together it'll all be fine, is what I'd really like to say. I just want to know what's going on out there. Ah! Sorry, I forgot—I can't just talk to you all day, nya! Everyone else is going to wake up soon and there's no way you'd actually be listening… So, I'll just leave it as a 'till next time'."

When Rin left the room, the door closed behind her by itself and she breathed a heavy sigh. She didn't have a clock on her, but there was a possibility that she was already going to be late for breakfast. Figuring it would be a good idea to hurry up, Rin practically ran down the stairs—and when she got to the bottom, she found herself tripping and— _oof!_

Arms went sprawling, bodies clashing—oh, it was Nozomi.

Rin staggered, stood up and rubbed her head. "Aye… Be careful, nya!" She scolded, slightly upset to have been surprised like that.

"Sorry, are you hurt? My bad, then." Nozomi quickly got up as well and fastened one of her hair bands, now seeming relatively calm.

"Oh, it's okay… What's the hurry?"

"I'd almost like to ask you the same thing… But if you'd really like to know, I can tell you!"

"Hm? What is it? Come on, Nozomi-chan, tell me!"

"Uhm, actually… Maybe showing would be better…" The purple-haired girl tapped her chin and turned her head back to look at the rest of the room, scanning it with her eyes carefully. Rin couldn't tell what she was thinking, but by the sound of things something was definitely up.

"Ehh? What do you mean?"

"We have to gather up everyone – then follow me."

"Nozomi…?"

Before Rin was able to get a response, Nozomi had already gone upstairs. Frowning, Rin tilted her head, eyes narrowed and lips pursed. Even by following the tone of her voice, Rin couldn't really tell if what Nozomi wanted to show her was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, she had such an urgency that it had to be something important.

Taking a deep breath, Rin followed her upperclassman up the stairs and knocked on the other's doors to awaken them. One by one, all the others came out – it was just a coincidence they were mostly already awake and were preparing to come down for breakfast like usual. Not much longer, the two had successfully gathered everyone up and Nozomi proceeded to lead them all back downstairs. Nobody was missing, luckily.

Then they stood, all gathered around Nozomi, who faced one out of two of the locked doors. She waited for the silence so she could speak, however questions went buzzing about.

"Nozomi-chan? Did you find the key?"

"Where would she have found that…? Doesn't make sense to me."

"If she didn't… then… uh… maybe the door just unlocked by itself…? Don't look at me, I-I don't know!"

"If the door unlocked by itself, does that mean that our captor unlocked it for us?"

"Calm down, everyone. The door isn't even open… couldn't it still be locked?"

"We can't just dismiss the possibility, Umi-chan!"

"I wasn't dismissing it, but…"

"Nozomi told me there was something she had to show me—us, nya! So it has to be unlocked, doesn't it?"

"If you all don't quiet, I'm going to have to punish you…"

Given, the room grew silent in less than two seconds and Nozomi gave a brilliant toss of her hair, turning a 180-degrees to face everyone. With a light _tap_ , she knocked the door behind her to make it swing open rigorously. She pulled out a tarot card and flashed it towards the others; revealing its symbol; the Sun.

"A great saying goes, 'when one door closes, another one opens'—that saying applies to here, in a literal way… The Sun represents everything we've been waiting for… Something fresh and new," she explained, tucking the card back into her deck, "and this might just be that which we were looking for, I think. Oh, let's go in… shall we?"

Stepping into the door and to the side, Nozomi let the others pass through. The door opened up into a great, round room with tall walls that lined up to the ceiling with thickly stocked bookshelves. In the center of the room on a pedestal laid a single open book, turned to its very first page.

The girls looked around in wonder, and Maki was the first to make a comment on it. "So, it's a library… and not just a manga library, thankfully… But what can we make out of this? Is there anything here that can help us? For all we know, they could all just be any old selection."

"There's so many!" Honoka exclaimed in awe, "there has to be something here that's useful, right?"

Umi nodded and picked up a book, wiping a layer of dust off of it. "You're right about that… Wait, this isn't kanji, is it?"

Rin picked up another book and squinted at it, trying hard as she could to see what it said. "I don't even think this is Japanese!"

"If it's not in Japanese, how does that help us?" Hanayo asked.

Maki sighed. "Well, it really doesn't… Japanese is the only language that I know fluently…"

"Wait a moment." Eli put her hand up so that the others would stop what they were doing. Curiously, the girls all put their eyes on her. She walked up to the open book in the center, and held it up so she could see it a little bit better. "This is written in Russian."

"Russian…? Wait, you mean—"

"Elicchi, you speak Russian, don't you?"

"I do, although… I don't practice it that much anymore, just at home with my family or when I see my grandmother… Ah, but I'll see if I can translate some of it for you."

Umi gave a breath of relief. "That's convenient!" She set the book she was holding back into the bookcase and walked up over to Eli as well to see the book that she had. "Out of all these books… Would that be a good one to start with?"

"I think so. It looks like some kind of diary, although that's just based on the perspective and the fact that it's handwritten… Hold on." Eli's eyes scanned across the page, and she cleared her throat. "Should I just read it out…?"

"Go ahead."

"Alright… Well, here goes. 'Hello, is anyone there? I hope someone finds this in the future and reads it before it's too late, I'm begging you. Me and my wife came here on vacation, because we just moved to Japan and were looking for an interesting destination… It started with the buns, and then the tickets, and now we are here. Everything was fine for a little bit, until the door got locked behind us, and we could not leave, there were no exits. I think the original owners of the castle are still here, or someone else is waiting for us… but…" Eli paused for a moment and gulped, read the next part over a couple of times, and looked back up at the others a bit nervously. "I-in the end, it… was all just… just a silly little prank and nothing else happened. It… uh, it was all just for a good scare by a good friend of ours, and we left a couple of weeks later, and everything turned out to be fine!' That's it. That's the end."

"Well, that's weird." Honoka said, scratching her head.

Hanayo looked at Eli, then at Honoka. "Isn't it…? They were in the exact same situation as us!"

"Does that mean that all of this is just a prank too?" Kotori wondered, and at this point she seriously wanted to consider it.

"I'm really hoping that's the case," Umi tiredly waved her hand, "and whoever's pulling this on us is just… just cruel. It's not a very funny joke, if you asked me."

"Ah, but if it really is just a big prank, it's definitely a clever one." Nozomi stated.

"Y-yeah…" Eli nodded—twice even, just so she could make sure everyone knew that she agreed too.

"Funny thing that _all_ the books in here are Russian, though—!" Rin picked up yet another book that had fallen down onto the floor and flipped through it, before closing it up and putting it back onto the shelf it had fallen from. "I mean, I get why just one would, but… This castle _isn't_ Russian, right?"

"No, I'm pretty sure it's English, or French, or something…" Umi responded, her words trailing off a bit. "While you have a point, I think it could be the same kind of case as with that other 'library'… With how it's a personal collection or how it might've been provided by the caretakers… Then again, this is a lot of books, so that doesn't quite make sense either. Who would just leave all of this here? A thousand books in Japanese makes sense, but in Russian?"

"And to add onto that," Maki inferred, "it's nonsensical to keep it all locked off. I mean, assume one of us didn't speak Russian—what would be the purpose of hiding something that didn't even need to be hidden? I don't get it."

"Uwah, this is too many questions…" Honoka complained, pressing her hand to her forehead in distress. "It's not that important that we figure it all out now, I'm hungry…"

"Then… Shouldn't we all go to breakfast?" Hanayo suggested.

"I wouldn't mind that."

"Sounds like a plan!"

"Rin wants breakfast too, nya!"

"We really should go and eat."

"Then let's go!"

Eli looked back at the others with an expression of slight concern, rubbing the back of her neck. "Actually, I think I'll stay here for a little bit – you all can go on, I'll join you later."

"I'll stay too," Nozomi said with a little smile, "To keep Elicchi some company…"

The others nodded and left the room, leaving only the two in there, alone.

The blonde cautiously walked back over to the book and read it over again, her eyes a bit watery—and she couldn't even help it.

Nozomi walked up behind her and gently put a hand on her shoulder, careful not to break her own expression. She waited for a moment before speaking, not wanting to rush too much.

"Why did you make it up?" She inquired.

Eli's eyes widened, but she closed the book anyways and turned around to face Nozomi and tried her hardest not to break their eye contact. "I… I'm sorry…"

"It's alright, you don't have to apologize."

"But… I-I'm sorry… I had to lie, I just…"

"There are things in there we shouldn't hear, isn't that right? I understand. It's alright, Elicchi. Everything's alright."

"…Nozomi… The book…" Eli let out a rather staggered breath, trying to keep her cool but deliberately failing. If not for Nozomi, she doubted it would've been possible to stay calm at all.

"…Would it be alright with you if I could know what it had really said?"

"I can't… With walls as thin as these, someone… might hear us. I c-can't tell you, but… The author had such a desperate tone… And with the way things have been going, it… it can't be fake. History's going to repeat itself—no, it already has, and she… I…"

Nozomi reached for Eli's hand and held it tightly, giving her a warm smile. "Try not to think about it too much. Before you know it, everything will return to normal… There's no need for us to make history repeat itself again if we can do what we can to change it."

Eli tried her best to smile back, although it still clearly faltered. "…You're right… I shouldn't be worrying so much. For… for all we know, the book could just be… a red herring, I don't know… Ah, this is all my fault, if I hadn't… If…"

"Don't blame yourself for this, it's not your fault. Just look at me, Elicchi, and repeat after me: It's going to be okay."

"It's… It's going to be okay."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"I really want to believe you, Nozomi… I really do."

"That's fine. If we're going to move forward, though… You need to at least remain calm, alright?"

"Yes… I understand." Eli bit her lip and looked down at the floor.

Nozomi took Eli's hand and calmly guided her to the nearest seat, sitting down with her. She looked at her with both sympathy and trust, admiration and compassion. For a few moments she didn't say anything, just in case Eli wanted to say something first.

The blonde graduate did not say a word, but instead leaned on her close friend's shoulder and shut her eyes tightly. She didn't want to open them because she knew that if she did she'd only have to face reality again. Nozomi let her lean on her without any refrain or hesitation and wrapped an arm around her, keeping her in place so she wouldn't somehow fall and used her other hand to stroke her soft hair.

Eli found her arms embracing Nozomi as well, and she didn't want to let go. She didn't ever want to let go.

However, she knew she couldn't stay like this forever – and even what felt like forever was over before she could count to it. After a little bit, Nozomi let go of her and stood up, leaving Eli rather surprised.

"Where are you going?" She asked, a bit confused.

"We have to go and eat breakfast, Elicchi. We can't just stay in here all day."

"Oh… that's right. I nearly forgot… A-ah, I'm not sure if this a good time to say this, but…"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Nozomi… Thank you so much. I… I really love you."

Nozomi looked back at Eli with a smile, quite glad with the words she'd just said. "And I love you too. Should we get some parfaits later?"

"I would love that."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **OSHIETE YO IT'S A NEW CHAPTERRRRRR**

 **I told myself I'd get this done by Friday but I couldn't help myself so I wrote it sooner you're welcome everyone**

 **Maybe the first thing you noticed about this chapter is that it's rather short. Well, given the length this fic is already, I'm hoping that won't be a problem – most of the chapters I've published already have been much longer than I intended them to be, so a couple of shorter chapters will hopefully balance it out a little bit.**

 **Also, if you** _ **weren't**_ **expecting NozoEli, I'm not sure what to tell you. I did warn you iN THE DESC that there would be popular ships! So a little bit of fluff isn't gonna hurt anyone ahah**

 **Dear Einter (ok it said guest at first but now it says Einter what do i think): thank you so much for following with my story and giving reviews! I really actually do appreciate this so much; I didn't think anyone would actually like this story and your support (along with the other support that I get) I am very thankful for! Is Nico what…? I don't know what Nico is; Nico is Nico, Nico Nico Nii~ To be honest, I've never actually written anything relating to or in the mystery genre whatsoever, so i guess this is a first for me - i don't really think DR roleplay murders count for that, do they? Most of them sucked, anyways. And here I didn't even know which genres to pick for this fic in the first place, but these do fit well enough, right? I hope so.**

 **Anyways, thanks everyone again and if you could please leave another review for this chapter because I really love reviews- whoops**

 **Now, it's terribly late in Europe and I must sleep, so... Goodnight! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, everyone~!**

 **UPDATE: thanks to BLMRemojo for pointing out that Eli never addressed Nozomi with '-chan' in canon... I completely forgot, haha! That should be fixed from now on.**


	5. Ghost Stories

Another week passed. One more ordinary evening and the rain began to fall heavily onto the roof of the castle. Pitter-patter-pitter-patter, constantly. The very sound of it was a very easily distinguishable one, and to many people it was considered to be quite a calming one. As the girls had gone along on their vacation, they made up some more rules pertaining to things such as chores and duties. While the food was restocked daily and a majority of the castle was well-kept, there were smaller things they still had to keep track of—like laundry and dinner.

On that rainy Saturday evening it just so happened to be Hanayo's turn to make dinner, and she took a good few hours so that she could prepare something special for everyone. Of course, it had to be her delicious onigiri. Even out of the best chefs from the group, nobody could beat Hanayo's signature, try as they might.

"Rice balls~! Delicious, steaming hot white rice~!" Hanayo sang, skipping into the dining room enthusiastically and setting down a big plate of onigiri. Everyone was just as hungry as she was, and the rice was as delicious as it looked.

A resounding 'thanks' came from each of the girls. They seemed to appreciate it.

Rin took a mouthful of hers. "It's so yummy!" She exclaimed.

Hanayo nodded. She was glad they all liked it, after all, it took time and effort to make all of those. "Mhm! I love rice so much; it just makes me want to melt!" Truthfully, she could have eaten all of those herself, but that wouldn't have been as nice, would it?

"But, I'd rather be eating these outside, nya…"

Hearing Rin speak up about the outdoors, Honoka put her hands on the table. "Me too! I know it's been three weeks already, but shouldn't we try to get out again?"

"What do you mean?" Umi asked. "We already know that it's impossible. If this place was open from the outside, someone would've tried to contact us by banging on the windows, or perhaps even breaking us out…"

"It's not impossible, nya! We can always try again, like Honoka-chan said, right?"

"I don't know. I just don't think it's a good idea. We could always just stay in here, at least until we get this all sorted out!"

"Huh? What is there to sort out?" Rin pouted, "There's no point in staying if we can leave!"

"Well, for one, this is just too _suspicious_! If we couldn't leave then, it makes no sense for us to leave now. What I'm saying is that it could be dangerous."

"Dangerous?! How? If anything, it's more dangerous to stay here, nya!" The orange-haired girl stood up, her half-empty plate unintentionally getting pushed forward.

Kotori looked between the two girls, feeling a bit of tension begin to form. "Please don't fight…!"

"Let's not let this get turned into an argument," Eli stood up too, since she was done with her meal already. "It's – it'll be dangerous either way, no matter what we do. Whoever's keeping us held here doesn't seem to have any intentions of letting us out, and isn't there reason for that? We just… have to keep a good eye out, and-"

Suddenly, Rin interrupted her. "But…! We're not even going to try? If I'm going to have to take risks, I'm gonna! Because there's _no_ way Kayo-chin – and all of you – can stay here and be safe…!"

"Then what's your plan?" Umi raised an eyebrow. "Sure, you say you want to take risks, but that doesn't mean you have to be reckless!"

"I'm going to be as reckless as I need to be, nya!"

Now Umi had stood up, and the surrounding few that remained seated stared up at them in surprise. That wasn't the only thing that surprised them. What else had come to surprise was the loud, booming sound of thunder that followed.

The entire room went dark, with only the flashing light of outside and the sound of wind and rain vibrating through the walls and roof of the castle, sending everyone into slight panic.

"It's a thunderstorm!" Honoka gasped, both her and Kotori reaching for Umi and clinging to her.

Eli let out a squeal at the sudden darkness, looking back and forth for someone she could cling onto as well. She grabbed Hanayo's arm, and Hanayo seemed to be pretty startled by that, giving a quick "Eep!"

"Hm, it looks like we've got a power out…" Nozomi commented. "What are we going to do?" She couldn't see Eli, but knowing that she was afraid of the dark, couldn't help but be concerned for her.

"Lucky for you, Rin brought flashlights!" If it was any more convenient, one could've called Rin a cheater. She clicked on nine or ten flashlight and handed them out to everyone, but since there were extras some people got two.

"You really planned ahead!" Kotori gasped, clicking hers on and off. At least they had lights now.

"Why don't we all go to my room? We've got sleeping bags, games; we could have a sleepover, nya!" Rin jumped up excitedly.

"I-I don't have anything against a s-sleepover," Eli stuttered, trying to keep her flashlight as close to her as possible. "As long as we're all together, ahah…"

"Don't worry, Elicchi. I'm sure we'll make it up in no time." Nozomi assured her.

All the girls made sure they clicked on their flashlights and did their best to make it to the stairs. The castle looked so different when it was dark: shadows looming everywhere, the occasional flash from the windows, and it just seemed bigger and emptier than it had before.

Sure enough, they got to Rin's room in no time. Rin sat herself down on her bed and propped her flashlight onto the nightstand so that it faced the ceiling, creating a soft glow throughout the room. "Okay! Let's get some sleeping bags!" She cheered.

"I'll go and get some," Umi said, "I think I know this place well enough by now."

"Don't go alone! Um, I'll come with you?" Hanayo offered.

Rin hopped off the bed and walked in front of her friend. "No, you stay here, Kayo-chin! I'll go! I promise I won't argue, nya."

At first, Umi was a bit hesitant because of their short discussion at dinner, but decided she'd rather not let it stick on her mind. "I… suppose I don't mind if you come along, but be careful." She advised her, and left the room, Rin following right behind.

After a minute or two, Hanayo's eyes wandered to the nightstand. "Oh, she left her flashlight behind…"

"I think she'll be okay… Umi-chan has her flashlight!" Kotori said, setting hers down.

The remaining girls all sat down on the floor in a circle, waiting in silence.

To break the ice a little, Honoka spoke up. "…So! Are we going to do anything while we wait?"

"Hmm… I have an idea," Nozomi said, a devilish grin on her face, "We could tell stories."

"Wha-what kind of stories?" Asked Hanayo.

"Ghost stories."

Some of the girls look at each other with grins, others with slight discomfort and fear. Honoka clapped her hands, cheering. "That sounds like fun! Does anyone know any really, really good ghost stories?"

Eli stroked her chin in thought. "I'm not sure if it really counts as a ghost story, but my grandmother used to tell me this _one_ story…"

"Huh? What story?" Honoka responded, her eyes brimming with curiosity.

"Well, it's a story that's been passed down through my family… It always sent chills up my spine."

"I'm sure it's a great story, Elicchi!" Nozomi said, "I'd love to hear it."

"Me too!" Kotori chirped.

The rest of the girls nodded, although Hanayo still looked a bit unsure.

"Alright, I—" Eli was about to begin when Rin and Umi came back, lugging a nice bunch of sleeping bags. Rin now had the flashlight, but both she and Umi were holding so many sleeping bags that Rin had to hold the flashlight sideways in her mouth. They threw all the sleeping bags on the floor and Rin removed the flashlight from the grasp of her teeth, clicking it off and setting it down.

"We're back, nya! And we brought… nine sleeping bags!"

"I told her we didn't need that many, but… She insisted." Umi sighed, beginning to untie one of the sleeping bags.

"Well, it's not going to be fair if we don't include _everyone_. I don't think Nico-chan would wanna hear that we left her out." Rin explained.

Umi rolled her eyes, but gave a small smile and rolled out the first bag. "Yes, anyways. I think we can lay them all out on the floor, if there's enough room…" The room looked pretty small, so it wasn't certain that they'd be able to fit all nine of the sleeping bags, but they were going to try before ruling out the possibility.

The girls started laying out the sleeping bags, but only seven of them fit. As Rin rolled out the seventh sleeping bag, she twisted her lips to the side. "Hm… actually, I think I'll sleep on the bed, nya!" Jumping off of the sleeping bag she flopped onto the bed and sprawled over the covers.

Once everyone had claimed their own spot to sleep, Umi sat atop her sleeping bag, fiddling with one of the flashlights. "Did we miss anything while we were gone?" She asked.

Kotori answered quickly. "Well, we decided to tell ghost stories!"

Eli sat up on her sleeping bag as well and began untying her hair. Hearing Kotori mention the ghost stories she gave a nod. "Yep. Actually, I was about to tell one of mine."

"Ooh, Rin wants to hear your story!"

"I'd like to hear it, too." Nozomi smiled.

"Alright, take two." Eli cleared her throat and looked around the room, a good number of eyes now laid on her, anticipating for her to start.

Eli began to tell a story about a little girl and her little dog.

"The girl loved the dog very much, and she'd always play with it and give it lots of care. One day, the dog disappeared in the middle of the night, and for a long time the girl never saw him again. Another night, the girl thought she heard barking outside her window. But there was nothing there. This repeated for two days, getting louder each time. On the fourth day, the girl looked out the window, she saw the dog and jumped. The end?"

The girls blinked.

"That's it?" Asked Rin, not seeming all that impressed.

Nozomi shivered. "Ooooh, that was spooky!"

Eli gave a small smile. "Sorry, I tried my best. I couldn't exactly remember all of the details…" She was glad that at least Nozomi enjoyed it, despite her knowing that her storytelling wasn't exactly the greatest.

"Hmm… I mean, it was okay, but – hey, can I tell a story?" Honoka held her hand out towards the flashlight on Rin's nightstand, and it was readily handed to her. Honoka grinned and shone the flashlight directly in front of her face to create a spooky illumination cast upon it. "Fufufu~" She giggled, noticing the other girls seemed a bit worried.

"Alright… Everyone, listen close, because _this_ story is based right here in this castle!"

Gasps.

"In this castle, there live… Ghosts! They haunted it since the dawn of time, since it was built, and they always sit lurking behind you just waiting for the right moment… to eat your soul!" Honoka jumped up and Hanayo immediately clung to Rin, hiding behind her. Kotori also did something very similar, shaking behind an indifferent looking Umi.

"Honoka, tha-that's going a bit far—" Umi stuttered, finding this all to be silly.

"Don't believe me?" Honoka asked, shooting a playful glare towards the bluenette's way. "These ghosts aren't just anyone, no. They take the appearance of someone you love, whisk you away into an everlasting embrace, and then—!" Honoka very dramatically enacted falling to the ground, kneeling upon it.

Nozomi of course was very intrigued by this story, Kotori and Hanayo were both very frightened, Rin kept up with the suspense, but Umi wasn't a fan of it.

"Honoka, where did you hear this story?" Asked Eli with a very suddenly serious tone.

"Hu-huh?" Honoka scrunched her nose. "Whatd'ya mean, Eli-chan?"

"…Nevermind, just answer the question."

"Well, well— I just made it up! It's not true, I promise!"

Kotori seemed to loosen her tenseness and peaked out from Umi's shoulder. "It sounds kinda real!" She exclaimed, still holding on to the other girl.

Rin raised an eyebrow. She liked the story, but didn't see a big deal. "But if it were real, nya, don't you think we'd all be dead by now…?"

"In my defense, I wanted to tell a _really_ spooky ghost story!" Honoka protested, "You can't blame me for that!"

Umi sighed. "Well, yes and no… But regardless, it might be a good idea for someone else to take a turn now."

Hearing that sentence, Nozomi took it as her cue. "Oh, I've got a story~! I call it… Washi-washi punishment time~!" The graduate wiggled her fingers, and with that, everyone knew just what she was up to.

Throughout the entire castle, one could hear the incredible shrieking of multiple girls from Rin's room.

Somehow, that was just enough to send the power back on, the rain settling a little bit.

Eli felt relieved. Good, the entire castle would no longer be shrouded in darkness.

"…Huh, that worked better than I thought." Nozomi noted.

Rin raised an eyebrow at her, but Nozomi simply shook her head with a giggle.

"Now that the power's back on, um—" Hanayo spoke up, letting go of Rin, "—should we go to sleep now?"

"I think that'd be a good idea." Umi agreed.

"Yeah, me too, I'm pretty tired…" Eli yawned.

"Huh? What about the pillow fights? Come on, it's a tradition! Nozomi-chan? Rin-chan? Kotori-chan?"

"Sorry, Honoka-chan! Rin's kinda sleepy too, nya…"

Soon, all of the girls had gone to sleep… and that was the most eventful thing that had happened that week.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **HELLO! Hello! Oh my god, yeah, long time no see. Have you guys ever seen that one tumblr textpost thingy where it's like 'fanfiction author: posts first four chapters of a fanfic on time and frequently; posts chapter 5 two months later, saying, 'I can explain!''**

 **Well, yeah, okay. So. I kind of have an excuse? Remember how I mentioned that I was an exchange student in Germany and all, well. SOMETIME before I could finish this chapter, my computer stopped working. I didn't really know how to fix it, and I was like halfway through my three months so it was like a month and a half until I could get home and see if I could get my dad to fix it. Turns out there's nothing wrong with it, buuut I'm kind of an idiot. Then after** _ **that**_ **it was mostly just me forgetting, me being busy, me getting writer's block, etcetera etcetera.**

 **But we're here and back on track! I don't have that much to left, anyway. I'm really hoping I didn't lose the few readers that I had on this, especially you guests who don't get emails whenever a new chapter comes out (seriously, just make an account-) If you liked this chapter, please leave a review, your thoughts, whatever, it really really helps me thank you!**

 **Next chapter is going to be posted right after this, so you'll probably want to read that as well. It's a bit longer, so hopefully that makes up for this? Rather filler-ish chapter. Anyways, continue on!**


	6. A Remedy

Kotori sat at the edge of the bed, fingers pressed into the sheets. It was another early morning, no different than any other—at least not yet. She had a few ideas of what she was going to do for the day that would take up a bit of time, and although it took her a while to decide she at least had a plan. It was her turn to fold the laundry, and she promised that she'd help Umi clean up the kitchen.

What had happened in there was a bit of a long story, but to sum it all up— _someone_ had attempted to microwave a jar of Nutella and left the metal lining on—and left the spoon in there, too. The culprit never did submit to their crime, so Kotori volunteered to take care of it. Umi refused to let her do it alone, so they decided they'd do it together.

The brunette looked up at the wall and gasped, realizing something she hadn't before. After a couple seconds of doing the math, she figured it out.

"According to the calendar… Today marks the day we've been here for an entire month. It's September 1st… Ah… That means school should be starting, doesn't it?" She pondered about it for a moment, remembering that the term should have begun by now. "Now that I'm in my third year, I was going to look a bit more into studying fashion… But to tell you the truth, I'm a bit more scared of what will happen once we _do_ get out… If I'm late for the school year, I'll have to do a lot to catch up. Honoka-chan told me not to worry about it, though, so I think I'll listen to her and do just that..."

Kotori's voice drew to a steady hum, and she stood up. She wanted to get a head start on the laundry before it was time for breakfast, which is why she woke up a little earlier – besides, it would be impossible to make anything if the kitchen didn't get cleaned up from the disastrous mess that it was, so she had to be early for that too.

Downstairs, it was completely quiet. The brunette assumed it was because everyone was still asleep and proceeded to go to the room where all the laundry was done in, next to the bath house. She emptied a basket of lights into the washing machine and moved the load from the washing machine into the dryer. There was nothing in the dryer before, so she didn't have to fold anything yet. Taking a nice deep breath in, Kotori sat up on top of the washing machine and crossed her legs. She wasn't sure why, but she somehow liked the smell of that room – it was very fresh, very clean, and just pleasant in general.

A few moments later, Kotori heard footsteps. Even over the loud buzzing of the laundry machinery, you could still hear those hard footsteps clacking on the floor. "Who could it be…?" She asked out loud, getting off from where she'd been seated and walking up towards the door of the room, not even suspecting a thing.

When she opened the door to the hall, she was not surprised to see Umi in front of it carrying a basket of her own laundry. "Morning, Umi-chan!" She greeted pleasantly.

"Morning to you too. What are you doing up so early?"

"Oh, um… I wanted to get a head start on all the work I have today, and I didn't want to make it an inconvenience, so…"

"There's no inconvenience. We can get started on the kitchen now, if you'd like—that way, we can have it finished by breakfast?"

"I almost forgot about that!" Kotori gasped, relieving herself and brushing it off with a giggle. She took the basket of clothes from Umi's arms and set it down to the other clothes baskets, sorting them into their appropriate selections. "So we should go now…?"

"If that's fine with you," Umi nodded and set off towards the kitchen with Kotori soon following behind.

Upon seeing the mess that was made from the explosion again, Umi shook her head in disappointment and disgust. "Really, I'm ashamed… You'd think we'd all know better than to do something like this."

"Yeah, I think so too…" Kotori murmured, and went over to the sink to soak her cloth with water. Truthfully, it didn't matter that much to her – whether it was a prank or the person who did it simply didn't know better, it wasn't like there was any real harm done. While the microwave had caught on fire and probably wouldn't be usable anymore, aside from a little bit of extra mess it wasn't that bad.

The two girls worked together in restoring the kitchen to its prime, even going a little further than what they'd originally aimed for to make it spotless. It was true that when you worked with a partner that it was much easier to get things done, at least in this case. Before they knew it they were finished and Kotori playfully tossed her dirty washcloth to Umi who caught it with one hand.

"Umi-chan? Do you know what time it is?"

"I don't know… Let me check." Umi walked out into the dining room to check the clock, then came back. "It's 9AM?"

"Already? Where is everyone?"

"I'm not sure. They could've just forgotten… Either that, or this clock is off…"

"Hmmmm…. Hopefully they'll come down soon enough."

Half an hour passed with the two simply waiting, making some small talk here and there. They weren't talking about anything important, only little things – asking questions like "How did you sleep?" or "Do you have any plans for the day?"

Kotori wanted to check out the library again to see if there was even a single Japanese book out of the mix. Umi doubted it, but there was definitely a chance, and it wouldn't hurt to check.

Half an hour passed and still nobody came to eat breakfast, until Honoka of all people came into the kitchen, nonchalantly popping a slice of toast into the toaster without even saying hello to either of the two girls that were there before. She was clearly still half-asleep, her eyelids droopy and her lips slightly chapped. However, she was still quite determined to make that toast.

Umi and Kotori exchanged glances and giggled at each other, then the latter of the two approached Honoka, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Good morning, Honoka-chan!" Kotori brightly said to her, and Honoka looked up at her tiredly. "You look a bit tired today…"

"…Yeah, a little," Honoka yawned, combing a hand through her blazing orange hair. "I went to bed on time, I swear—"

"And by that you mean you didn't go to bed on time at all." Umi sighed, shaking her head but still laughing a little bit. "You'll never change your sleeping habits, will you?"

"Nope."

"Did you see anyone else upstairs?" Umi asked, going to cut herself an apple.

"…Yeah, I think, I dunno… They were just like, chatting, or something…"

"So nothing crazy's going on… good."

The three childhood friends ate breakfast together, despite the fact that nobody else seemed to want to come down yet and it was already later than usual. It seemed the uniformity they had was beginning to break apart, even if it was just for that one rule.

It made Umi a little bit disappointed, but she knew by now she couldn't always hope for perfection – a little bend never hurt anyone, and if everyone was awake, then she supposed the rule didn't have to be absolute. Still, even though she had Honoka and Kotori with her it felt a bit lonely with just the two of them, since she'd gotten used to being around all the others every morning and every evening all of the time.

Kotori got up to bring her dish back to the sink, then suddenly realized that the next load of laundry was probably ready. Without giving a heads up to the other two she sprinted off into the direction of the laundry room, but halfway she had to force herself to stop.

All of a sudden she felt… dizzy?

Something was off. A little shaky, weak at the knees, a little nauseous even. Her entire orientation was spinning, and she shook her head to try to get it to stop.

Kotori fell to her knees and grabbed her head, when she heard two pairs of footsteps down the hall coming after her. Honoka and Umi came to her sides, and seeing how she was they immediately grew worried.

"Kotori! Is everything okay?" Umi asked, her eyes moving back and forth, trying to keep calm.

"Y-yeah, I'm just a little bit… dizzy…" Kotori responded, taking deep breaths and attempting to make them somewhat even.

"Oh, don't you faint too!" Honoka exclaimed, grabbing Kotori's arm.

"Don't worry, I… I'll be fine," The brunette reassured the two, standing up slowly, "I just think I need to sit down, or something…"

"No matter what, we'll protect you," Umi swore, "so if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask. Honoka, let's take her to her room."

"Alright, let's do that." Honoka gave a nod, and slid her grasp down to Kotori's hand instead, Umi doing the same. Kotori wasn't averse to the idea of them taking her hands, but rather surprised.

She took her hands back and shook her head, giving her friends a polite smile. "Really, you don't have to." She tried to brush it off with a nervous laugh but ended up coughing instead, then attempted to walk away from them. She didn't get very far. With even just one step—one shaky step—both Umi and Honoka could see through her clearly.

Umi grabbed her hand again, a bit firmer this time. "Sorry, Kotori—I know you don't want to worry us, but this is for your own good. Come on, you need some rest."

With a defeated sigh, Kotori let the other two take lead of her and they carefully took her up the stairs and into her room. They did pass Eli and Nozomi, who seemed to be chatting about something but there was no need to eavesdrop when they had more important things to do. The two graduates had only given them a curious glance as they passed by and nothing more.

The girls let go of Kotori's hands and she fell back onto her bed, sitting up while leaning against the headboard. She closed her eyes – all she was trying to do was concentrate, but even though she wasn't even moving that strange spinning feeling wouldn't go away.

"...want? Kotori-chan?" Honoka asked.

It took a moment for Kotori to realize she was being spoken to, and shook her head to clear her vision.

"Hm?" She looked at Honoka with a puzzled expression in hopes that would get her to repeat herself.

"Kotori-chan, do you want anything to drink? Oh, and whatever you do, do _not_ fall asleep!"

"I'll try… Umm, would a glass of water be alright?"

"Right away," Umi saluted and went to leave for the kitchen, leaving Honoka and Kotori alone together.

Honoka faced Kotori with a bright and hopeful smile. "No matter what, we won't let you down! Umi-chan and I will look after you, okay?"

"Thanks, Honoka-chan… It really isn't all that bad, though."

"You said you were dizzy, right?"

"Yeah, and my head hurts a little, but… not that much."

"You know what would be really useful right now? Maki-chan's nursing skills."

Kotori half-smiled back at Honoka. "Yeah, they would be…"

Umi eventually returned with a glass of water and Kotori drank it down gratefully. It didn't do much to help her, though, as a few hours later she was in a much worse condition than she had been before. Coughing every few seconds, a runny nose, a sore throat and an aching head, nothing could seem more annoying and terrible for Kotori's world.

First, Umi and Honoka tried the most obvious and practical step—looking for medicine. They searched the bathroom, the kitchen, the storage room and even their own luggage but unfortunately didn't turn up with anything that would be of use.

They also tried other things—a hot towel, lots of water—but neither of those made Kotori feel much better.

The brunette leaned back her head but had to lean it forward again in order to cough into her arm, when Honoka offered Kotori a cup of mostly opaque orange liquid. Turns out it was orange juice.

"Have some orange juice. It's really good for you, I think!"

Taking the glass, Kotori raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"You're sure…? I feel like this might only make it worse, but if you say so…"

"Trust me! I used to drink orange juice whenever I got sick, so it must do something, huh?"

Kotori carefully took a sip of the juice and nodded slightly, not wanting to move her head very much if she didn't need to. "Thanks, Honoka-chan."

Setting the empty cup on a nightstand, Kotori laid her head down onto her pillow. "I think, um… I think I need to rest a little… I won't fall asleep, I promise, I just need to close my eyes."

"Are you sure you don't need anything else?" Umi offered, her eyebrows tensed.

"No, it's fine, thank you… Umi-chan…" Kotori yawned, sniffed and closed her eyes in a flutter, seeming to be at least somewhat physically relaxed.

Honoka watched her with a thin smile, then looked over to Umi, who still appeared incredibly concerned.

"Are you sure _you'll_ be okay?" Honoka whispered to her. "It isn't any different than an ordinary cold."

"Hm? What do you mean?" Umi whispered back. "I'm fine, It's just… it's natural to be worried. We've been through a lot, so… Why shouldn't I be?"

"Worrying won't do you any good at all… I know what _that_ feels like. But she'll be okay, Umi-chan! She said it so herself!"

"Well, I don't know about what she's been saying, but I sure hope you're right."

"I hope I'm right too." Honoka gave a sigh and looked back at Kotori. She looked so peaceful yet at the same time so miserable.

It was just a cold, that's how it appeared. With how quickly it came and how mysteriously it did felt similar to Honoka, and that wasn't a good thing. If they didn't do anything to help Kotori, it could get even worse. Honoka certainly didn't want that to happen.

She tried to think of something she could say to make things seem calmer; to brighten up the rather dim-feeling room. No words came to her lips.

Instead, she hummed. It was fairly quiet, but it was loud enough that Umi could hear her.

At first, Umi couldn't really recognize the tune. "Honoka…? What are you doing?"

Honoka stopped so that she could respond, merely baffled that she didn't find it obvious. "Huh? You can't tell? Hm, hmm, hm, hm, hmm…"

"Is that…?"

"I say… Hey, hey…" Honoka began a melody, singing out.

That's when Umi was able to finish it. "…Hey, Start: Dash..." She gasped and slapped herself on the side of her head. "Oh! How could I have forgotten about that?"

"I don't know why, but the chorus just popped into my head when nothing else would… It just takes me back to when we were first beginning."

Umi took a moment to think about what Honoka had meant. The lyrics… In a way, she supposed they did reflect on their situation just a little bit. She'd gotten used to their strange life in captivity that she never batted an eye at anything that happened anymore. She bit her lip, but began to hum as well, giving Honoka the opportunity to join back in.

Soon the two girls had been humming through the entire song as some sort of hymn to Kotori, both of them hoping that she would enjoy it or at least hear them. Kotori, still laying down with her eyes closed, felt calm enough to fall sleep – she didn't move or speak or sit up at all, but the sides of her mouth curled up in a small but pleasant smile.

She had definitely been listening.

When they were done with the humming, there was no speaking between the three – it was now a cold and quiet room, the only sound was that of them all breathing. Despite what she'd said earlier, Kotori had fallen fast asleep – but as long as she slept without being disturbed she didn't seem to be in as bad of a condition as she was in when she was awake.

This remained for another hour or so when the girls heard a knocking on the door. Umi jumped up to get it immediately, trying to be as quiet as possible. When she opened the door, Eli was there. Not really what she had been expecting, but she wasn't sure what she was expecting in the first place. "You girls have been in here for a while, what's—?"

"Shh!" Umi raised a finger to her lips, her voice in a whisper. "You can come in, but be quiet!"

Eli's mouth hung open as if she were ready to respond, but didn't think of anything to say until she knew what was going on. She followed Umi back into the room, although upon seeing Kotori she felt a little short of breath. "Is she—?"

"No, she's alright, for now… She caught a bit of a cold and is just resting. Since we have nothing else to do to help her, well… Sleep is really the best option."

"I see… I was a little afraid that—well—never mind. If she's still well, it isn't all that important. Ah, please ignore everything I just said..." Eli gave a breath of relief, trying to act like she never began to question it in the first place. For the past two weeks she felt far too on edge and she couldn't help that if she tried, but she had to at least pretend not to be nervous.

Umi surveyed her suspiciously, not quite sure what to make of her behavior but decided that she'd let it slide. "Alright then, I will. Did you and the others eat anything yet? At least we got around to cleaning up a bit of the kitchen… I _still_ don't know who left it like that."

"I don't know about the others, but Nozomi and I haven't eaten yet. We got a bit distracted? You could put it that way. I hadn't even realized all the time that had gone by…"

"Either way, that means we haven't all gotten to eat breakfast!" Honoka whimpered, a little louder than she'd intended.

"You ate a piece of toast this morning!" Umi reminded her.

"Oh, yeah… but I'm still hungry, I want some lunch…"

"You can wait to eat, can't you?"

"Actually, I'm a bit hungry too," Eli admitted, "I wouldn't mind going down soon to eat."

"See! Eli-chan agrees with me!"

"…uwah…?"

Everyone looked over to see Kotori sitting up, rubbing her head. "Are we… are we talking about food…?" She weakly asked, covering her mouth as if she were going to cough. She tried not to cough and held it in instead, her face a bit pale.

"Harasho, Kotori! You're awake!" Eli moved a bit closer to Kotori's bed, somewhat astonished.

"…Why do you look so surprised?" Honoka asked her, and Eli waved her hand.

"Don't pay attention to me." She snapped, not meaning to sound rude at all but it still came off a little bit that way. It reminded Honoka of when she and Eli barely knew each other, but it was different – they were friends now, and would always remain that way. Things had changed a lot since then. Eli's voice returned to a much softer tone and she put her hand on Kotori's shoulder. "Kotori, how are you? I heard you have a cold, is everything alright?"

Kotori didn't speak, continuing to hold her mouth with her hand cupped around it. Her breaths were getting shorter and her eyes were tearing up.

"Kotori? I-is something wrong…?"

A few seconds later Kotori let out a light cough. Although, it didn't feel that light to her. Crimson blood began dribbling down her chin, and even though she still kept her shaky hand in its position it didn't do much to stop the flow.

Wide-eyed and panicked, the other three girls weren't sure what they were supposed to do.

"K-Kotori-chan?" Honoka didn't know what to even make of this. She held Kotori's health in a high regard; this was seriously bad, and she needed to put an end to it.

"Oh god, oh god… We need to do _something_!" Umi's eyes looked in scattered places throughout the room – she didn't even know what she was looking for, but she was in panic mode and there was no slowing down. "Kotori, will you be okay? You can't speak, can you?"

Kotori shook her head very slowly and stiffly, moving as little as she possibly could.

Eli lifted her hand from Kotori's shoulder – it seemed that had answered her question. "Coughing up blood… this is bad. She needs medical attention right away, but—we aren't medical experts." She stood to actually think for a moment, trying to come up with a solution quickly. Nothing came to mind, but only something temporary. She tossed Kotori a water bottle and a towel, hoping that she'd know what to do with it. Kotori guzzled down as much water as she could, which wasn't very much, then wiped the rest of her face with the towel, hoping to get rid of some of that disgustingly sticky blood.

Looking down at what Kotori had Eli could see that almost the entire cloth had blood soaked into it. "That's… a lot…" She murmured. "Since we have no medicine, no tools, and no knowledge of what we can do to help you—I'm afraid it's already too late." The blonde informed her, but she began having a few problems with getting her words out as well. "There—there's always a slim chance, though. You can't give up, and neither will we. Hang in there, okay?"

Kotori nodded as a 'yes', the simplest way to communicate without having to speak. Honoka and Umi gave each other an uneasy glance. Neither of them wanted to say goodbye to Kotori, and they both held onto that "slim chance" that Eli had mentioned. What scared them, though, was how quickly this mere cold had escalated.

Just a few hours ago, there was nothing wrong with Kotori whatsoever… But now she was on the verge of something fatal. There was nothing ordinary about that… scary as it was, what did it mean?

Kotori paused to make a round motioning with her hands.

"What are you trying to say, Kotori-chan?" Honoka asked.

Since she couldn't say it, Kotori pointed to the pen she'd used to mark the calendar with and a sketchpad that laid open on her dresser. Honoka brought them over to her, and she wrote something down, seeming to be in a bit of a rush.

 _Do we have any of the buns left? I would really like one, if it's not too much trouble._

"Um, I think so… Umi-chan, where are the buns?"

"The… The buns? The last ones should still be in the kitchen… Kotori, why do you want one of those? Agh, never mind, asking is pointless."

Suddenly, the door swung open and a group of three rushed in. "How did you-!?" Umi stared at them in shock.

"Rin heard Eli-chan sayin' stuff to Nozomi-chan, and let's just say word gets around quickly in such a little group…" Rin begun.

"S-so—so we heard about the situation here," Hanayo said, walking up behind her friend.

"Tell us what you need and we'll do what we can!" Nozomi proclaimed.

"Someone, go downstairs and get the steamed buns!" Umi ordered, an urgency in her voice. "Quickly!"

"Roger! Rin'll go and get them, nya!"

In the blink of an eye, Rin had sped out of the room. Good thing that was being taken care of by the fastest of the group. Umi wasn't even sure if the buns would be fresh anymore, but from what she could tell they've kept pretty well until then just fine.

Everyone else huddled around Kotori's bed, all wanting to ask the same questions. However, Eli advised them to try not to make too much noise, and reminded them that she was currently unable to talk.

"Kotori-chan… Y-y-you'll… you'll be okay, w-won't you…? It'll all be o-over before you know it…" Hanayo sniffled. "Y-you're so n-nice and kind, so nothing bad can really happen to you…"

"The world has a working way of karma… I feel like it'll be in favor for us this time, but that's just a feeling. Kotori-chan, through all of this, you'll still have all of us right by you."

"Yeah…! From the very beginning, you've always had me and Umi-chan, and we're _not_ going to lose you no matter what!"

Kotori attempted to wipe the tears from her eyes and gave everyone the best smile she could muster, still feeling absolutely terrible on the inside. She wasn't even sure what to be expecting at this point; with every second she could feel herself becoming sicker and sicker, like a set timer on a ticking bomb.

However, with all of her friends' kind words she was able to ignore all that at least partially. She didn't want to go, she wanted to leave this place with them. Would those buns even do her any good? There was nothing special about them, she just had the feeling… the sudden craving for them, and she couldn't put a finger on why.

Rin came running back and set the original box of the buns onto Kotori's nightstand. There were only two left, the two that had been left uneaten, but just one would have been more than enough. Kotori coughed again, quickly finding the towel again as more blood shot out of her mouth and tried to get it all out. She still felt the urge to cough _again_ , but she knew that wouldn't be good for her.

Since the others were patiently waiting for her, Kotori felt a bit guilty for what she had to do. She wrote down on a new page: _Please leave this room. I need to be alone, sorry. I love you all so much~~_

Honoka read the note aloud, and the six girls looked uncertain. Yet, they followed along with her wishes, all going out so that she could have her solitude. As Umi closed the door behind her, she could no longer stop herself from flowing with tears.

Honoka flinched upon noticing her state, taken aback by the fact that she was now crying. "U…Umi-chan…? Are you—"

"No! I'm not okay! I'm not okay with this! She didn't do anything wrong…! What kind of hell sickness _is_ this?"

"Umi, you need to calm down." Eli crossed her arms, walking between her kouhai and the door to Kotori's room.

"How…? How can you expect me to just—to just calm down!? I... I can't! I can't just let her be alone in there in the state that she is! Kotori, she…"

"Listen to me, Umi. I know how you feel – we're all worried about Kotori, we all want to help, but we don't have time for this…"

"Elicchi, let her be. Umi; Kotori told us what she wanted, and whether she's in a good position to think or not she must have had reason for asking us to go. We can still check on her later, if that makes you feel better." Nozomi said. "Just take a deep breath with me."

The rational part of Umi decided to at least attempt to listen to the others – despite the emotional side insisting that they _didn't_ understand and that they were still pulling on her, she had to fight that and find the reason in herself. She inhaled deeply through her nose then exhaled through her mouth, putting her hand on her chest so that she could feel herself breathing. Her golden eyes shifted to the door which Eli stood in front of, but even with her in the way she could still read Kotori's name. Doing so only made her think about her more… No, she had to try not to think about it as much as possible.

"Sorry… I… have to excuse myself," she told the other five, "and if things don't go well, I'd rather you not tell me."

Umi went into her room and just about slammed the door behind her.

Nozomi looked over to Eli and moved to a corner, gesturing her to come over so they could speak more privately. Even though Eli had been playing it cool, Nozomi could tell that she was nervous too.

"Elicchi." She whispered.

"What is it?"

"Is this… Does it relate at all to what you read?"

Hearing those words and remembering just what was written in that book, Eli faltered. "A-actually, a little bit… Not that much, since if it does, then… there'd be a few things it's contradicting. It's not the same, but… familiar."

"Hm, I see. Elicchi, are you afraid?"

"Of course I'm afraid… Not because of this, though. This is not the worst thing that could happen."

"What else can happen?"

"…Well, um…" Eli looked down at the floor and shuddered. "I… I'd rather not say it aloud." Her crystal blue eyes found themselves averting from Nozomi's, who narrowed her own eyes trying to get some insight on her friend.

"That's fine," she responded with a flat tone of voice, "you don't have to tell me."

Even though she said that, Nozomi really did want to know. Eli must've needed a strong reason to keep what she was hiding from even her, because Eli always told Nozomi just about everything.

While Umi stayed inside her room alone, the other five decided it'd be a good idea to eat some lunch.

They all went on as positively as they could, trying their best to ignore everything that had happened that day.

As Hanayo was preparing herself some rice she noticed that the microwave had been left open. She had to stop for a moment to ogle it dumbfounded, when Rin came up next to her to grab an apple.

"Um… d-did we ever find out who put it in there? I mean, uh… the Nutella."

Rin shrugged. "Nope, don't think so! At least, I don't know who it was. Who do you think would be silly enough to leave it in with a _spoon_ , nya?"

"Ahh, I don't know! Um, Nico-chan?"

"No, someone in _here,_ Kayo-chin! Like… hm… Honoka-chan!"

"I heard that!" Honoka hollered from the dining room, "And it wasn't me this time!"

"Uehh? 'This Time'? Which means you've done it before!"

"Fufu, been causing trouble recently, Honoka-chan?" Nozomi chuckled, and Honoka puffed her cheeks.

"Come on, quit teasing me! I told you already, it wasn't me...!"

Rin came into the dining room and sat down next to Honoka, giggling. "Sure, if you say so~ We were just joking, Honoka-chan! No need to get all upset!"

Hanayo sat down as well, her plate full of plain white rice. Everyone who was available to eat lunch at the moment sat at the table now, but only half of the seats at the table were filled.

"It feels so strange having only five of us here, considering up to now we've only eaten together." Eli sighed, taking a small bite of her sandwich.

Honoka looked down at her food with little interest, twirling a fork through it but not actually eating it. "Yeah, it kinda does…" She muttered in agreement, although she didn't have anything else to say on the matter. Suddenly, pushed her plate away and stood up.

"Where are you going? You're done already?" Hanayo stared at Honoka with question – considering she'd only eaten a little bit of her food, it was surprising that there was still so much left on her plate.

"I'm not that hungry right now," She said, "I need to go talk to Umi-chan! She might need it…"

"O-oh, I see…"

After that, Honoka disappeared to upstairs and only the remaining four were left at the table to finish their lunch.

* * *

That evening, there was an urgent pounding on Umi's door.

Not sure who it could be or what they wanted, she approached the door cautiously.

She opened the door and the first thing to meet her eyes was Kotori, running into her arms. "Honoka-chan! Umi-chan!" The brunette cried.

Umi blinked, now in a bit of a daze. "K-Kotori?! What are you doing? Weren't you just—"

"Umi-chan, we need to get out of here!"

"Kotori-chan, are you sure you're okay…? You need to go and rest some more!" Honoka insisted.

Kotori shook her head. Physically she showed no signs of illness anymore – a warm face, determined, and not even a little shaky.

"No, Honoka-chan! We… We have to leave right now! We can't stay here anymore!"

Umi and Honoka exchanged a quick glance.

"If we had the choice of leaving, we'd have done that long ago. Kotori, you can't push yourself – you're still sick!"

"Am I…? Actually, I've never felt better! B-but you have to listen to me!"

Umi was about to refute something in protest when Honoka stood up. "Don't you worry, Kotori-chan! We'll find a way out, no matter how long it takes us."

Kotori smiled, but it faded no sooner than it came. "But… we… don't have any time! Back there, I… I saw… something horrible."

"Kotori, you might not think so, but… You still need to rest. Hallucinations, all these claims – you're acting crazy! There's nothing we can do about the windows and the doors, we'll be stuck in here until we die—!"

By that, Kotori seemed a bit taken aback, disappointed even. "Umi-chan, don't think like that!"

"…?"

"It's only been a month! While that seems like a long time, we haven't found a solution yet… Aaah, Umi-chan—!"

"I know what you're trying to say, believe me. However, just a few hours ago, you—" Umi never finished her sentence, but grabbed her friend's arm instead.

Kotori bit her lip and looked down. "That's why we can't stay."

"Honestly, I know… but we can't change what is!"

"…Okay, you're right…" Kotori sighed. "Maybe if we just accept things as they are, it'll be fine."

Then Honoka was pouting. "Well, what's the use in that?"

"Huh?" Both girls simultaneously turned their heads to her, shooting her strange looks.

"What's the point if we're just gonna give up? We can't do that! Not under my watch!" Honoka put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Yeah, we tried! We tried and we failed. We've made no conclusions this whole time, but – I know we can do it! We just have to work hard at it, and we'll make it in the end – just like always."

"You have a point, Honoka… But what are we _supposed_ to do if all else fails? I-I'd rather not cause trouble. Who knows what could happen." Umi insisted. She was trying to listen to Honoka. She really was. Yet the fear of what could happen if they did anything drastic ruled over her decisions.

"If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out! Nothing else we can do, so giving up is not an option, Umi-chan. Don't you think so, Kotori-chan?"

Kotori smiled. "Yeah!"

"Kotori isn't reasonable, she's still sick."

"Umi-chan, I can still think…"

The girls needed something to distract them for the time being, and after a few ideas flew around they settled on heading to the pool. At least the pool was fun, and good exercise to boot.

"Umi-chan, I—need help!" Distraught Honoka groans came from the changing room. "Pleaase hurry! Ngh…"

"Huh…? What is it? Is there a problem? Are you—" A concerned Umi ran into the changing room to come to Honoka's aid to find her sprawled out on the floor with half of a swimsuit on… "Honoka, what are you doing?"

"I can't get this oooooon!" Honoka whined, and pouted, looking up at her friend. "Can you help meeee, Umi-chan?"

How embarrassing. Umi felt a bit ashamed to be seeing this… Hey, wait, keep this PG-13!

"Oh, I told you if you ate too much bread you'd get fat…!" She scolded her, not trying to sound too harsh. "If it doesn't fit, try a bigger size."

More inaudible noises from Honoka. Eventually, she gave up with that swimsuit and went to put on another one, Umi leaving her be. Walking back out to the pool, something seemed… Off.

"…?" Umi surveyed the entire room, trying to figure out just what the problem was here. First of all, Kotori was gone.

Kotori was gone! Where did she go? Umi _knew_ it was a bad idea to leave her out of her sight, but she didn't have much of a choice. And now had she run away or gone somewhere else? "Honoka, get out here! Kotori is _missing!_ " Looking to the far east side of the room she spotted a lone book on the floor. Upon further inspection, the floor pattern here was a bit different here as well. Suspicious.

Umi stepped on one of the floor tiles near the book, something turned and suddenly she was in… A different room? Definitely not the pool room, and not any of the other rooms that she had so far recognized.

"I-is this a revolving door?!" She put her hands on the wall and tried to push it, but nothing happened. A little harder and it still wouldn't budge. Stepping off and on the apparent pressure plates? Nothing. There was no way to get back from here. "What is this, some sort of game?"

Meanwhile, Honoka came out of the dressing room with a swimsuit that seemed to fit much better than the one she tried putting on earlier. A shame, because she liked the other one a bit more. To her surprise there was nobody in the room.

"Huh? Where'd they go?" She scrunched her nose. Umi _just_ called her out here. Maybe they went to the bathroom, or out in the hall. Honoka headed towards the door that normally led back to the hallway.

But when she walked through that very door, it didn't.

It lead to Hanayo's room.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Yep, another chapter, as promised. I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep a steady pace with this now, but school is coming up real soon so - we'll see!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it sure is... uh...**

 **Please please please drop a review, thank you!**


	7. HIATUS NOTICE

**Hi! Quick notice from the author. In case you're wondering, I'm not abandoning this story. However, I will be putting updating the chapters on hiatus, as if you all remember I was in Germany for a good while and wasn't able to finish last year's school, and I'm VERY busy both with the homework from last year and school from this year. I've already gotten the end written to this, and you'll get them eventually, but for now I'm going to put this on PAUSE. I want to thank all who've read this story through and I thank you for your patience! :)**


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